Don't Hurt Me
by LolaMay101
Summary: Olivia Benson and the squad rescue two kids from a sex trafficking ring. These two kids have trust issues like no one has ever seen before. Benson has to somehow get them to testify at the trial so the man who had caused them so much pain doesn't get away with it. Rated M for fight scenes and for nature of fic. (On Wattpad now as well under same name and same story name. Enjoy!)
1. Trust Issues

**Hey lolamay101 here, so I decided to write a Law And Order SVU fic. It's basically going to be about two very distrustful siblings and how they learn to trust again. That's just the basics of it. :) I hope you like it! Thanks for reading! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 1)

(Olivia's POV)

I pulled up in a squad car with Dodds to a run down house in Brooklyn, we were on a case of a sex trafficking ring that were using kids. I got out of the car and looked as the many squad cars pulled up to the house, ESU was setting up around us while Fin, Rollins, and Carisi stood with us. In the house there was reason to believe were two kids, we weren't sure who they were or what even their gender was but we knew they were in there. It was one of the main parts of the ring, these kids were apparently popular, that's we were told by one of the traffickers who cut a deal with Barba to tell us where the last of the ring was hidden.

I walked up to the door with ESU and Carisi, Rollins and Fin would follow in behind us, Dodds would stay outside to help direct the situation. ESU knocked the door down and went straight into where a man was watching T.V. The man was Donald Richardson, he was the man we were after. "Donald Richardson! You are under arrest for trafficking and child pornography," Carisi said moving forward and cuffing him.

I moved to keep on searching the house. "Lieutenant!" Fin called pointing to the basement.

I nodded my head moving forward as I broke down the door and went down the stairs. I rounded the corner of the stairs to see two dog crates and chains wrapped on the back of the dog crates. Inside the crates was a girl with dark brown hair and green eyes she looked about twelve years old She was in nothing but a sports bra and very short shorts. Her ankles were tied with the chains as well as her arms, she was so thin and looked terrified seeing us.

In the other crate there was a teenage boy about sixteen with golden eyes and black hair. His feet and hands were chained, but he also had a gag in his mouth, it seems like the one who was more trouble. He was glaring straight into my eyes with a look of anger and defiance, that was amazing seeing how long this ring had been going on. He was really thin just like the other girl. He began fighting against his bonds, he didn't want to be hurt again.

"Hey, hey." I said looking at the both of them and talking in a gentle tone. "I'm Lieutenant Benson, I'm with the police. We're here to help you two, we're not going to hurt you I promise okay?" I asked them.

I moved forward and unlocked the boys crate first, I took the gag out of his mouth. "Help her first. She's more important," the boy said nodding his head over to the little girl. He didn't seem to trust me but he realized we weren't going to hurt him.

"One of my colleagues will help her okay? That's Detective Rollins," I said gesturing to Amanda. "She's going to free her."

The boy took this in and slowly nodded his head. I looked at the ESU guys and the brought me some bolt cutters. I cut off the boy's chains and helped him crawl out of the crate, he had bruises all over his body as well as scars. He looked like he had been through a lot.

I handed the bolt cutters to Rollins and the boy watched with carefully guarded golden eyes as she freed the girl. Once the girl was freed she darted into the boy's arms who wrapped her up protectively, he held her close and whispered into her ear. She nodded her head, I smiled as I watched the reunion. I was glad we were able to find them.

"Can you guys tell me your names?" I asked them watching them closely.

They both seemed very distrustful, even of the ones who had just rescued them. The boy shook his head taking the girls hand silently. I smiled at them and nodded my head. "Okay, that's perfectly fine. Can you trust me to take you two to somewhere safe?" I asked them.

The little girl looked at the boy and nodded her head. The boy sighed and nodded, he seemed to be more distrustful than the girl. I guided them up the basement steps and onto the streets. I put them in the back of a squad car together. "They seemed really roughed up." Fin said to me as we walked to our cars.

"Yeah, but they'll be okay in time," I said with a nod of my head with a sigh. I hoped they would be okay. They were just kids, they didn't deserve to be put through something like that.

Dodds sat next to me silently, he watched the kids through the rear view mirror but knew not to say anything to them for once. We got back to the station and I took them to the break room. Carisi was going to order them a pizza, I sat down across from them handing each of them a closed soda. The boy and the little girl both opened their sodas and sucked them down quickly.

I got them another soda and the boy cleared his throat. "My name is Nick," he said watching me carefully.

I smiled at him, now I was gaining trust that was good. "Okay Nick, it's nice to meet you. Can you tell me your name?" I asked the young girl.

"I'm Mia," Mia said watching Nick the whole time who nodded to her. "Nick's my older brother."

My eyes widened in surprise, a brother and a sister. That was a rare occurrence, but I was glad at least they were together, instead of us having just one of them and not the other. "Does Nick look out for you?" I asked Mia.

She nodded her head. "Yeah, he tries to protect me from the scary people." She said her eyes flickering over to Nick nervously to see if she said the wrong thing.

He gently squeezed her shoulder as if to tell her that was okay. "What do the mean men do to you?" I asked her, she seemed the one to be the most open.

"I can't say," Mia said biting her lip and looking away from me. "I'm not allowed to or otherwise he will get mad. He will get mad and he will hurt Nick."

"Who will Mia?" I asked her trying to look her in the eyes but her green eyes were focused on everything but me.

"We can't tell you," Nick snapped holding Mia close to him. His golden eyes glared into mine daring me to challenge him.

I nodded my head, he was very protective over his little sister it seemed. I didn't blame him though, I would be protective over my sister if something like this happened to me and my sibling if I had one. "Alright, alright, I understand." I said with a nod of my head. "Could you write it down for me?"

Nick's eyes narrowed even more. "No, because that would still mean telling you which we aren't going to do."

I sighed, this kid was smarter than most. It was going to take awhile to get information out of him, luckily we had Donald in custody so we weren't racing down the clock on that one. It was just a matter of getting Nick's and Mia's testimonies so we could put him away just like his buddies.

I handed Mia a jacket that I had brought into the room with me so she could stay warm. Nick was in a under shirt and shorts so he was okay for now. I wanted to get them actual clothes so they weren't stuck in the clothes Donald provided for them if they could even count as clothes. They were more like undergarments, there was no telling of what he put these poor kids through.

Carisi brought the cheese pizza in. "Hey, I'm detective Carisi but you can call me Sunny," Carisi said giving them a friendly smile.

Nick got up from his seat and took a swing at him. "Nick!" Mia yelled scrambling against the wall.

"Stay away from me and my sister!" Nick screamed at Carisi who dodged him and put down the pizza.

"Easy kid!" Carisi said dodging another swing.

I was on my feet as soon as the first punch was thrown. "Nick," I said gently not wanting to cuff him. "It's okay, no one's going to hurt you remember?"

"He's going to!" Nick yelled gesturing to him. "That's what men like him do! They don't care about us! They just want to hurt us!"

"Nick you need to calm down okay? Look at Mia." I said gesturing to his little sister who had her hands over her ears and was trying not to scream. She must have seen something similar to this a lot, she seemed very skittish and very afraid of it. "You're scaring her." I motioned for Carisi to leave, he didn't need to be told twice. He scurried out of the room as fast as he could.

Nick's eyes softened seeing his sister, he went over to her slowly. "Hey Mia." He said looking at her closely. "You're okay. I'm sorry I scared you but I was protecting you from a bad man. Remember what we're like?" He asked her, that was the first time I have seen him smile the whole time he's been here.

Mia took her hands off of her ears and slowly nodded her head. "Superheroes who are going to defeat all the bad guys." She said as if she had been told this often. "So is the bad guy gone now?"

This could be a problem, the brother saw all men as bad and was starting to poison the sister's mind. Another problem was that they were the only ones they trusted, I had gotten past like half a barrier but that was it. I could not do much if I couldn't gain more of their trust, and they certainly couldn't testify in court if Nick was going to go ape every time someone from the male gender got too close to him.

I wasn't sure what triggered Mia since I've only just met her and her brother. I just knew those two had serious trust issues and especially did not like the male gender. It looked like Rollins and I would do most of the talking to them. I would also have to get Nick and Mia to trust Barba when the time comes. We didn't have a lot of time but we had some. That's the important thing, I just had a couple days before the Arraignment Court hearing but they didn't have to go to that. I wouldn't take Nick and Mia to that, they're too unstable at the moment.

The challenge now was trying to get them to be stable enough to be able to testify on the stand and the ability to stay calm. I doubted Nick would even let Mia get near the court room and would probably freak next time I let him go out in the squad room so for now they were staying in here. They both seemed perfectly happy with that fact even though I haven't told them yet, I was going to stay with them for awhile. I couldn't exactly leave them alone with just anyone since they were so distrustful. They were perhaps the most distrustful pair of kids that I have encountered so far. That tells me they went through a lot of abuse. I could only wonder if who their parents were and how they would feel once we got them back to them.


	2. False Words

(Chapter 2)

(Nick's POV)

I sat in a room with Mia, there was a window behind us with bars on it and a glass in front of us reflecting our faces. We looked worse for wear, I was so thin and I was covered in bruises while Mia had a black eye, was thinner than I was, and covered in bruises as well. I didn't know why we were locked in this room, I played with my coke can as Mia fidgeted nervously beside me. She didn't seem to be sure what to think, all I knew was that I needed to keep her away from men.

Men, they were horrible to us. They would touch us in places we didn't want to be touched and they would make us touch them in those private places. They would make us do things we didn't want to do and they would beat us, burn us, and emotionally abuse us. They would call us names and treat us worse than dogs, we spent half our time in a dog crate and ate out of a dog bowl. When we did get food it was just scraps since our captor apparently didn't have time to give us anything else and he also wanted us to be thin for the men. My head hurt just thinking about it, I was determined not to become one of those men. I was going to be my sisters protector.

"Nick?" Mia said tugging on my shirt to get my attention. I looked over at her as she broke me out of my thoughts. "Why are we in this box?"

"I don't know Mia, but if I knew I would tell you. If I could control this place then we wouldn't even be in this box in the first place," I said getting up from my seat and beginning to pace.

I felt like I was back in that dog crate except with more room, it was like I was in another box and there was no way out of it. I hated the feeling, it made me want to scream but I wasn't going to go completely mental for Mia's sake. Mia was the only thing that was making me hold on to my sanity, I had to be there for her. Mia was the only one I could trust and all I had left.

That Benson lady was nice but she asked way too many questions, and she asked the kind of questions that no one wanted to answer. I wouldn't trust her alone with Mia, that would make me go absolutely ape. I would start killing people if they separated me from my little sister. I wasn't going to let these police officers force me or Mia to do anything we didn't want to do. We were out of the dog crates which meant we didn't have to obey anymore, we didn't have to listen to every command and respond.

The door to the box kind of room opened and a blonde hair green eyed lady came in with the Benson lady. I quickly went and sat down by Mia, I was ready to protect her from anything they might do to us. I was not going to let her near any men, the women together we would talk to but the men, no way. I was not going back to the hell hole that was that basement. I haven't seen the light of day and months and now it was shining right through that window. It was nice but I just wanted to be out of this place.

"Good morning Nick and Mia. I'm Detective Rollins and you both already know Lieutenant Benson." Detective Rollins said to the both of us. She seemed friendly but that's how they all were until they were ready to do what they pleased with you.

It started out with kind words or sometimes rough words, then it would go to the touching, and then to the pain. I hated the whole vicious cycle I just wanted it all to end and not have to worry about it anymore. Maybe this was the chance for it to end or maybe our captor gave us to someone else. That wasn't uncommon. Mia and I have been passed around to captor to captor since Mia was six. Our foster parents sold us to the first captor, I'm never going back into foster care because of that.

"Yeah," I said with a nod of my head, I was going to keep a close eye on her. If she even reached to touch Mia I was taking her down. "So what do you want from us?" I snapped cutting right to the chase, I didn't want to be locked in this box anymore. The box was making me really nervous.

"We don't want anything from you Nick," the Benson lady said gently. It was almost too gentle, I wasn't sure if she was just trying to get past my defenses or if she actually cared. Usually it was just the defenses, no one really cared about us. "We just want to keep you two as safe as possible."

"Of course you do," I said rolling my eyes, I knew I was probably being disrespectful but I could careless. "Just like all of our captors do, just like all those men do, you guys are just like them. All you are going to do is hurt us," I snapped at them in clear voice.

The detective and lieutenant looked at each other as if they weren't sure what to do with that response. Finally the lieutenant took a deep breath. "We're not like them Nick I promise, we just want to talk with you. Can you talk with us just for a little while?" Lieutenant Benson asked me.

Mia nudged me as if she thought that we should, but Mia didn't really know everything about how these cops were. I was once forced to do things with a cop and they said all these things but they still treated me like a toy. That's what they all said when one of us started crying. 'Oh we're not like them.' 'It won't hurt.' or my personal favorite that our captors usually say to me; 'Shut up and be a man.'

I just simply shook my head at her, she was just too trusting. That's why she was always crying at night because she didn't know what to do with all the betrayals she had happen during the day. I used to comfort her at night but our captor got sick of me talking over her cries at night and gagged me because apparently he can fall asleep to Mia's cry better than my talking.

"What do you want to know?" I said my golden eyes glaring into the women not trusting one word they were speaking.

"Can you tell us about how you first got into Donald Richardson's possession?" Detective Rollins asked me.

"Don't say his name," I said flinching when she said it. "And no I can't."

(Benson's POV)

I left the interrogation room with Rollins, we gave Nick and Mia the option of leaving the room but they didn't want to. Outside the room Dodds and Barba were standing there. Barba turned to me with his usual serious frown on his face. "Well the boy is a piece of work."

I sighed shaking my head. "He was abused, Barba in all ways possible. "He's very distrusting and very protective over Mia."

"Has he told us anything useful?" Barba asked me.

"Well they have told me their names and that they are related, Carisi and Fin are going through the missing persons data base to see if they are in there. It was difficult to get a DNA sample but we got one. It's in the lab now," I said with a wave of my hand.

"What about Donald? Has he admitted to anything?" Barba asked his eyes calculating my every move.

"No," I said shaking my head. "He says that he never knew those kids were in his basement or why they were in the condition they are in."

"Well that's unbelievable, since we had searched his computer and there's videos of him beating those two kids and more," Barba said rolling his eyes.

"I know, we're working on it. When are you going to take him to Arraignment Court?" I asked him, I hoped it wasn't too soon because I had a long way to go with Nick and Mia.

"First thing tomorrow, you have him for another night. Has he lawyered up yet?" Barba asked with a sigh.

"He just asked for a lawyer a little while ago. The lawyer should be on their way but who knows when they are going to get here," I sighed shaking my head. "In the mean time I'm going to try to get Nick and Mia to trust us. Nick absolutely loses it if a man gets too close to him."

Barba's eyes widened and he shook his head. "Then what am I going to do in a court room? If he's going to lose it he can't testify. What about the girl, is she stable?"

"Hardly," I said shaking my head. "They only trust each other, the haven't separated for anything. Where one goes the other follows."

"Find a way to fix this." Barba sighed pinching the bridge of his nose before leaving the office.


	3. Sold

(Chapter 3)

(Benson's POV)

I sat across from Donald Richardson and Buchanan how he even afforded him I will never know. His house did not show any signs of wealth but he must have a family trust. We were investigating those things at the moment. I had Carisi and Fin on that project while Rollins was sitting in with Nick and Mia in one of our interview rooms, Dodds and I were interviewing our suspect.

"Why did you have those two kids locked in dog crates in your basement?" I asked Donald in a clipped voice.

"My client had no knowledge of the two kids that were locked down in his basement." Buchanan said rolling his eyes. "You have no evidence to even suggest he did."

"That was his house, under his name," Dodds said shaking his head. "The evidence is obvious. How could he have not known? Why was the teenage boys mouth gagged and the young girls not?"

"Nick's so freaking loud that's why," Donald exploded, we had been at him for hours and finally we had slipped up. "All Mia does is cry and cry-"

"Donald don't say another word," Buchanan said with a scowl on his face. He knew he was screwed as well. "I need a moment alone with my client."

"Okay," I said with a sigh as I stood up and pushed in my chair before exiting the room.

Outside Carisi was standing there watching, he was supposed to be working but that was fine because he was watching the interview. Carisi turned off the microphones in the interrogation room so they could have their right to speak privately. "He just confessed!" Carisi said grinning.

"Not exactly Carisi, he confessed to the dog crate part but none of the other stuff. If we really want him to do life then we need him to confess to everything. Especially if we don't want to have Nick and Mia testify." I sighed shaking my head. "Carisi you go in there with Dodds next time they are ready, I'm going to go check on Rollins and the kids."

I walked over to the more friendly interrogation room, the one we interviewed kids in. I opened the door and Nick immediately jumped to his feet knocking down the chair. He only relaxed a fraction when he saw it was just me and not a man or anyone that he thinks would harm here. "Oh it's you," he said going to stand by Mia who was playing with the toy cars on the floor.

I smiled at the sight, Mia seemed to be bored. He sat down with his legs cross next to her, he faced me. I looked over at Rollins who was silently watching them, I went over and sat next to her. "How are they doing?" I said in a quiet voice to her.

She sighed taking her blonde hair out of her face. "Well besides Nick asking me why I'm in here every five minutest they're fine. They just do their thing and they don't want me to get near them," Rollins said with a sigh.

I nodded in understanding watching the two of them. Nick put his arms around his sisters thin shoulders as if to comfort her as they whispered to each other. They didn't even trust us to be able to talk out loud to each other. This was going to be a very long road for the two of them. I really hope they don't have to testify.

"You know it's rude to stare," a voice piped up, I shook my head looking over at Nick. He had his golden eyes trained on me like a bull and a red blanket.

"I'm sorry Nick, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable I was just lost in thought." I said nodding my head to him.

He shrugged as if he no longer cared and turned back to his little sister whispering something in her ear that made her giggle for the first time since we have met them. I have noticed that every little smile, every little sign of happiness was a rare and beautiful occurrence for these two kids. I didn't think they were exactly broken, more like just bent. Nick seemed hell bent on trying not to seem as scared as he really is.

"Be nice Nick," Mia said loud enough for us to hear. "They're trying to help us."

"You don't know that for sure Mia." Nick sighed ruffling his little sisters hair. "They could be like the rest, we're just pieces of meat to them remember?"

"Yeah, I know, I'm just hoping they're different," Mia said looking at her brother, her green eyes full of emotions.

I looked at them curiously, at least one of them had hope that things were going to get better. That was something I could work with. I could use that hope to create some more trust between them and the squad. I was thinking about even taking Noah up here one of these days for Nick and Mia to meet. I wasn't sure how they would react but knowing how caring Nick is with Mia he would probably act the same way towards Noah. At least I hope he would, I didn't want to put my son in danger so that's why I was waiting. I was going to wait until Nick was a little more predictable and Mia wasn't so skittish, and also I was waiting to see if they were in the missing persons data base still. I don't know what was taking so long but apparently it's a big data base.

"I don't want to go back in foster care," Mia said just loud enough for me to hear. "Do you think that's what they're going to do to us?"

"I won't let them," Nick said quickly as he began to braid his sisters hair with nimble fingers. "I won't let them separate us or put us back in the system okay. I'm not going to let them sell us to captors again."

Well I guess I could have Fin stop looking through the missing persons data base and start looking at the Foster Care one. That was a good piece of information that Nick and Mia had been sold to Donald or someone else we didn't know their whole history by their foster parents. This case was making me feel sicker and sicker by the minute, these kids really had been through their own little personal hell.

I looked over at Amanda who seemed to be sharing the same look on her face. "You stay here, I'm going to go check on Fin." I said to her.

She nodded her head. "Alright Liv."

I exited the room and went to see Fin who was sitting at his computer. "Hey Fin, you can stop searching the missing persons data base now. Look into foster care."

"Are you sure you want me to stop searching the missing persons one?" He asked as he pulled up the foster care data base and began to plug the names and DNA samples in. "If they were taken from foster care then-"

"More like sold," I said cutting him off. "I overheard their conversation as well as Rollins, Mia was saying how she didn't want to go back into foster care. Nick assured her that he wouldn't let that happen and he wouldn't let them be sold to the captors again."

Fin's eyes widened and he shook his head. "Those are some sick foster parents right there, no telling how many more foster kids they sold into sex trafficking. Maybe we can find the rest of them if we find the parents." Fin said typing away on the computer.

"I hope so, maybe Nick and Mia know other names of the kids as well. I don't want to pressure them right now even though time is precious."

Fin nodded his head in understanding as he worked. I walked into my office and sat down at my desk as I began to fill out paperwork, Carisi and Dodds could wait a few minutest while I caught up. Being a lieutenant and a mom wasn't easy at all, the mom side of me really felt for Nick and Mia. I didn't want to put them back into foster care but there weren't many options for them.


	4. Tricks

**Hey lolamay101 here, thanks for reading, favoriting, and reviewing! Hope you like it. Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 4)

(Nick's POV)

Mia and I were still sitting in the interrogation room, my claustrophobia was starting to kick in. I was pacing the room and looking all around, Detective Rollins had left the room a little while ago, something about helping Detective Tutuola with some research. Lieutenant Benson hadn't come by for awhile, I think they were all just busy. Mia and I liked being alone anyway, we didn't like people around us. I especially had a problem with touching, I hated to be touched. I would flip out if one of these detectives tries to do anything to me.

It was just everything in our past involved us being violated in every way possible. I remember the first time, I was five years old and was in foster care with my sister. Things weren't horrible then, our parents just died and we actually got placed in a nice family. The problem was the babysitter, she would touch me in ways I didn't want to be touched or that confused me. I didn't know that it was sexual assault at the time, I thought it was normal for babysitters to touch you in that way. It was when she told me not to tell anyone is when I figured it out. I told my foster parents and Mia and I got transferred to a new home the very next day.

That was just the start of the horror, our life has been like one big blob of terrible. Our parents died in car crash and we had nowhere else so that's how we ended up in foster care in the first place. I hate foster care and so does Mia, I am going to find someway for us to stay out of foster care but together. "Mia I'm going to use the bathroom okay? I'll be right back." I promised my sister, Lieutenant Benson said anytime I needed to use the bathroom just to go.

I walked out of the room and saw our captor in cage thing as I walked to the bathroom. He glared at me as I passed by him before finally speaking. "This is all your fault you know," he said to me, his dark brown eyes looking at me in rage. "I'm going to call some of my friends to take Mia out. Would you like that, huh? See how well you survive without your poor little sister." He sneered at me.

I was freaking mad, I was ready to lose it. I stalked right up to the cage and gripped it's bars. "I know you didn't just threaten Mia," I snarled at him. "Because if you did, I will rip your throat out and I'll make sure you have a one way ticket to hell," I yelled, I didn't even know I was yelling but I could care less if I was or not.

"Woah easy there," Detective Carisi said touching my shoulder.

Now that was a big mistake, I turned around and took a giant swing at him which clipped him in the jaw. I then tackled him to the ground and punched him in the face repeatedly. I was then removed off of him and pinned against the wall with my cheek smushed up against it. "Don't touch me!" I screamed beginning to panic. What if they were hurting Mia? "Where's my sister? Don't you dare touch my little sister! I will kill all of you if you hurt her!"

During this whole charade our captor is laughing it up. "Told you he was a psychotic." Our captor chuckled happily. "I told you he was bat shit crazy! The kid can't keep his cool for anything!"

"Nick I need you to calm down and I release you. Alright?" Lieutenant Benson said in my ear.

"Where's my sister? Take me to my sister!" I shouted squirming and yelling. I wasn't going to calm down until I saw Mia.

"I'll take you to her if you promise to be calm," Lieutenant Benson said and I nodded my head. She let me loose and I broke into a dead sprint. "Rollins block the door!" Benson screamed as she tried to tackle me.

The thing is I'm pretty fast and well coordinated despite living my life mostly in a dog crate, I couldn't explain it but that was who I worked. I dodged Detective Tutuola and Sargent Dodds, they weren't going to stop me from getting to my sister. I saw the interrogation room and focused on it. I ran into the room and slammed the door shut before plopping down beside Mia panting.

"What happened to you?" She asked as she played with the cars she had been playing with all day. "You look like you just played the game, what's it called? The one where you avoid balls that are being thrown at you."

"Dodge ball?" I asked her and her green eyes lit up in recognition. "Nothing happened to me, just went for a little jog around the station."

"If you got us kicked out of here I may have to kill you," she teased me as she played with her cars.

"Don't worry," I said rolling my eyes. "I don't think they will kick us out."

A little while later Lieutenant Benson came in with a pad of paper and a pen. "Alright Nick, you almost sent Carisi to the hospital. Want to tell me what that was about?"

Mia looked at me with her eyes wide in surprise. "You did what Nicholas Cole Hart?! I knew we were going to get kicked out of this place!" Mia burst out.

I looked over at Lieutenant Benson who was writing on her pad fiercely, she was probably writing my full name down, great. "Not particularly but since I did almost send him to the hospital I guess I owe you an explanation and my sister one." I said nodding to Mia who was giving me a green eyed glare. I knew I was in hot water with her right now. "I hate being touched it brings up the memories."

"What memories?" She asked me as she scribbled on her pad.

"Ones I'm not telling you," I said sharply. When I feel threatened I get defensive. It was just something I do I couldn't control it. "It's something I can't talk about."

"Alright," Lieutenant Benson said with a sigh. "We have deemed that it's not safe for you to live here so I am going to take you somewhere that is safe for you guys to be."

I looked at her crossing my arms, I didn't like the sound of this it sounded fishy. It sounded like I was going to be ending up in another dog crate, that was something that I didn't want to happen nor was I going to let happen. Her eyes were soft as if she cared but I knew she didn't. No one cared about us, we were always passed around like toys and given away like prizes, the only place that was the place I had some familiarity was the dog crate I slept in every day for a year. It was uncomfortable but at least it was one constant in my life.

"Now where would this place be? I'm telling you right now we're not going back into foster care or a dog crate." I snapped at her.

She seemed surprised that I was being so frank with her. We had been here for over twenty four hours now so that meant we were probably stuck here until they got bored of us and sold us to someone else. For some reason they always kept Mia and I together, they never separated us. I had no idea why, but they always wanted us in a pair. I was glad I got to be with my sister so you don't hear me complaining, I just find it strange.

"I can promise you that it's the safest place you can be and it's in New York nowhere Brooklyn. I understand you don't want to go back into foster care so for now we're going to do our best to keep you out of it. We're also going to make sure the foster parents who started this in the first place get what they deserve. Okay Nick?" She asked me looking at me with those caring eyes.

How did she figure out we were sold into this hell? I guess she must have heard Mia and I talking earlier, I needed to be more careful. "How do I know you aren't lying," I asked her with my eyes narrowed.

"I'll make you a deal," she said taking a deep breath. "If you don't like the place I'm taking you then you can tell me you want to come back here and I'll take you. Is that a deal Nick?"

I looked over at Mia, she was looking at me with her big green eyes. I needed to do what's best for her and if this lady was offering me a deal like that then might as well try it out. I was faster than the lady and was stronger too, unlike the captors in the past we were sold to so that gave me some hope that I could get away if I really wanted to with Mia. Mia was faster than I was and could get herself out of this situation if needed. I looked away from my sister and back at Lieutenant Benson who was waiting ever so patiently for my answer. "Fine, but this better not be a trick."

"I promise you Nick," she said looking into my eyes. "This is not a trick."


	5. Out

(Chapter 6)

(Benson's POV)

I really had no choice, I couldn't have Nick freak out every time a man got too close to him or someone accidentally brushed up against him, so I took them the only place I knew for sure that would be safe for them. I unlocked the door to the apartment and opened it up the door swung open revealing my sitter Lucy and my son Noah. "So this is where you live?" Nick asked looking around.

"Yes, and that's my son Noah and my sitter Lucy who I told you about." I said gesturing to them.

Nick's eyes hardened while Mia just hid behind him. I sighed, how was I going to get these two into a court room? Lucy moved forward and handed me Noah before turning to Nick and Mia. "Hi, I'm Lucy! It's nice to meet you both," she said with a smile on her face. She held her hand out for them to shake but neither of them shook it.

"Hi baby," I said said to Noah with a smile. "Did you have a good day Noah?"

He just smiled at me, Mia came around and shyly looked up at Noah. She seemed fascinated by the little boy I was holding in my arms. "Can you say hello to Mia Noah?" I asked him getting him into a better position in my arms.

"Hi," Noah said quietly grinning at Mia.

"Nick the baby talked to me!" Mia said getting excited, I smiled. At least she could still be a kid.

"Mia," Nick said shaking his head but he was smiling because Mia was happy. "He's actually a toddler but it was close enough."

I handed Lucy the money for watching Noah and then she left us alone sensing that Nick and Mia were hostile towards strangers. I turned to the siblings who had lost interest in Noah and were looking all around the apartment again quite nervously. Nick walked into the kitchen and I followed in after him, he grabbed a knife. Alarm bells rang in my head but all my years on SVU made me remain calm. "Nick please put the knife down," I said to him, he slowly did as told. "Thank you Nick, let's go to your rooms okay?"

I was putting Mia in Noah's room while Nick would be crashing the couch which I doubt he would mind. As long as he could see Mia he was perfectly happy, he was probably going to end up sleeping outside of Noah's room anyway. "Mia you can sleep in Noah's room, I have an air mattress that you can use, while Nick you can crash the couch is that alright?" I asked the siblings, they slowly nodded their heads. "Okay good, I will order take out for us. Is Chinese okay?"

"Anything is fine," Nick said with a sigh as he walked over to the couch and plopped down on it.

Mia followed him over there and did the same sitting silently with her hands folded in her lap as she stared at the wall thoughtfully. She seemed to always follow her brothers lead, they had a very tight bond that I was afraid was going to unravel if the defense tried to put them against each other. Some defenses did that when there were siblings involved, but I was hoping Nick was smart enough to see through Buchanan and not to let him make him come unglued.

I dialed the take out number and they said it would be about thirty minutest. I went back into the room where Mia was playing with Noah on the floor while Nick watched them carefully. "Nick can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked the older of the siblings.

Nick nodded his head and got up from his seat walking into the kitchen calmly. "Yes?" He asked me with his hands behind his back.

"Is there anything you can tell me about your foster care homes with Mia? It would help us to know your whole history coming from your mouth." I said grabbing a pad and paper that I kept out for emergencies.

"Look," Nick said with a sigh. "You seem nice enough so far but I'm not going to tell you my life sob story. I don't need it to come back to bite me in the ass. I already have had too many situations like that before now."

I let the whole language deal slide, I didn't want Noah picking up on Nick's mouth but I doubted he would say those words in front of Mia or Noah. "Have you had any police in the past talk to you?"

"You mean the ones who come to the parties to abuse us? Yeah. I have. It's really interesting to see serial killers mixing with officers of the law in one place. The tension is refreshing," Nick said rolling his eyes. "Especially when your walking around the place with no shirt and just underwear on, and to see your sister being manhandled by those filthy pig as they touched her in all the places they shouldn't."

I scribbled all these things down. Nick was talking, this is a good thing it meant I was getting more trust from him. Or he was starting to want justice. Either way it was good he was talking to me, maybe if he sees we're doing something about this whole situation then maybe he would let Mia talk to me alone. I doubted that would happen anytime soon since he still had serious trust issues.

"Can you tell me any of these people's names?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "They would kill me if I told, I would be dead by tomorrow morning and they would make it look like a suicide and they would take Mia back. If they find out we're with the police they will track us down, it won't be that hard since we are special victims as your name of your squad states. But I can tell you they're like nothing you have ever seen, if you think Richardson's bad you should see some of the Johns. They are eff'n scary."

"Alright Nick, could you write it down for me?" I asked him.

He scowled shaking his head. "How stupid do you think I am? Telling you in words or on paper is basically the same thing. I may have been a sex slave but I am way smarter than I look," Nick said shaking his head at me.

He was shutting down and there was nothing I could do about it. "Take out will be here soon, why don't you go see Mia and Noah?" I said but he was already out of the room by the time I said out.


	6. Hopes Up

(Chapter 6)

(Nick's POV)

I woke up groggy eyed the next morning, I had the best night's sleep I had in a long time. I slept on the floor outside of Mia's room, I tried sleeping on the couch but I just couldn't because it made me nervous not being able to see Mia. I rubbed my eyes as I stood up and went into the kitchen where Lieutenant Benson was making pancakes. My mouth watered at the smell but I didn't want her to see that I was starting to feel comfortable here. I shook my head, I couldn't be comfortable here, because when I got comfortable it always ended badly.

Mia was already in the kitchen sitting next to Noah, she was silent but it was an improvement from the usual pupils dilated, deer in the headlights look. Lieutenant Benson looked up at me and smiled. I thought she would have been at work by now, why was she staying around with us? I mean, she could leave us with her sitter Lucy. Mia and I wouldn't do anything we would just sit quietly.

"Good morning Nick, did you get a good night sleep?" Lieutenant Benson asked me as she served me a plate of pancakes.

"Yes, thank you Lieutenant Benson." I said with a yawn as I took a bite of my pancakes.

"Lieutenant Benson is not what you should call me, it's way too formal. Call me Olivia or Liv." She said with a smile as she refilled Noah's plate with cut up pieces of pancake.

Mia and I ate like animals, we have never had that much food before. We just ate a little of the pizza because we didn't trust the food yet but now we did. After both of us had fifteen pancakes we both were in the bathroom throwing up. Me in a bucket and Mia in the toilet while Olivia looked over us worriedly.

"Sorry," I said, my cheeks were flushed from puking my guts out.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Olivia said with a small smile. "I should have probably fed you guys something lighter if I knew you were going to eat so much."

"That was the most food we have gotten in a long time," I said with a shrug. "We weren't going to waste it."

Mia flushed the toilet and stood next to me panting hard. I didn't ask if she was okay because she would whack me if I did. She hated to be asked that question, I don't know why. It was probably so psychological trigger that they implanted into her head but who knows. We had so much shit happen to us that it could be anything.

Olivia smiled at us sympathetically. "Well I need to go down to station. Why don't you guys get dressed in the clothes I laid out for you on Noah's bed while I go finish getting ready."

We nodded our heads and made our way to Noah's room. There, there were a set of NYPD sweats for the both of us. I guess that's all she had in our size right now. I went to the bathroom to change leaving Mia in the room by herself. Once I got dressed I came back out to see Mia trying to put her hair up into a ponytail. "Do you want help?" I asked her.

"Yeah," she said with a sigh turning towards me.

I went over to her and grabbed the hair brush that Olivia had gotten for her last night from the station. I began to brush her hair gently trying not to get caught on any of the tangles that were literally everywhere. I will never know why girls keep their hair so long. It was a nuisance to have to deal with day in and day out, our captors used to make me have to do Mia's hair for the parties we went to. They would get so pissed if one hair was out of place, I shook my head. I shouldn't be thinking about that, those were nothing but memories now.

"Do you think Olivia is going to hurt us like the others did? I don't think she will, she seems to care about us. That's a good thing right? That she cares. I don't think she's pretending, she doesn't seem like that serial killer Will-"

"Don't say his name," I said shaking my head. "It's too dangerous to. I know he pretended to care and then burned you literally but we can't talk about it okay? It's over now, it's nothing we need to worry about."

"But he's still out there," Mia said as I finished up her pony tail. "Shouldn't we tell them what we know?"

I sighed, this was the hard part of being the big brother you had to make all the tough choices. "No Mia, we shouldn't tell them anything that could hurt us. So far they haven't locked us in a dog crate or any of that but it's still a possibility. We could just have been sold into another sex trafficking ring or stolen. We need to stay on our toes because anything can happen."

"Well I think we should trust her," Mia said crossing her arms.

I turned her around so she was facing me. "Who do you trust more, me or the police?" I asked her, I stared her right in the green eyes.

She looked at me for a moment and then sighed in defeat. "I trust you more Nick, I just wish for once we didn't have to always keep turning around to make sure someone wasn't going to hurt us. I want to be normal! I want Mom and Dad back!" She burst out, tears filled her eyes.

I hugged her close to my chest since that's all I could do. I couldn't bring our parents back from the dead, I couldn't take away all my little sister's pain and suffering. What I could do was be there for her and protect her from these people. I was not going to let someone else stab us in the back. "I know you want them back," I whispered into her hair. "But they're in heaven remember? That's where you're going to go when it's your time. God's been watching you and seeing how good you have been being and how much you have suffered. He save a place between Mom and Dad, out of all of his angels just for you," I explained to her.

She smiled up at me sniffling. "Will you go to heaven with me? Has God saved a place between Mom and Dad for you too?" She asked me rubbing at her eyes.

"I hope so," I said smiling at her sadly. "I would hate to be separated from my little sister after what we have all been through together." I said tightening up her pony tail gently, Mia was the only one I would let touch me and vice versa. "You feeling better now kid?"

"Yeah," she said nodding her head. "I hope our captor goes away for a long time and we don't have to go back in foster care. Do you think Liv will be able to make that happen?"

"Maybe, maybe not." I said smoothing out my clothes. "Don't get your hopes up kiddo, I would hate for them to be shattered."

"I know Nick but I can't help it." She said grinning at me cheekily before exiting the room.


	7. Shock

(Chapter 7)

(Benson's POV)

I walked in with Mia and Nick who both made a beeline for my office where I told them they could camp out for the day. I smiled and shook my head as I watched them go, they were just kids. Today was the Arraignment Court hearing, I was thinking about taking Nick with me but he didn't seem stable enough to go. I was going to introduce Barba to Nick and Mia today.

Carisi came up to me carrying two files. "Here's their foster care files, let me tell you, they've got issues," he said before walking back to his desk.

I walked into my office where Nick and Mia were on the floor, I sat at my desk putting on my reading glasses. I flicked through Mia's file first, her full name was Mia Nicole Hart, she was twelve years old, her birthday was on Valentine's day. She and her brother had been to forty different foster homes, that had to be a record. Nick on the other hand had report after report of incidents leading all the way up until he was ten years old when suddenly they disappear. There's no more information about either of the siblings. We needed to find those foster parents.

I took off my reading glasses with a sigh, Arraignment Court was in three hours. I hope he didn't make bail, I didn't want him out there. That would just freak Nick and Mia out, I already was going to have to get them to trust Barba. They would never trust the NYPD or me a gain if he makes bail.

"What are you reading," Nick asked me. "It looks like it's about me," he said trying to take the file from my desk.

I held onto it, he did not need to see that. "It's just a file about the case Nick, it's police business," I said gently prying his fingers away from the file.

Nick watched me through narrowed eyes but then nodded his head reluctantly as if accepting that I knew what I was doing. He then went back to sitting on the floor with Mia and whispering in her ear, I watched as she whispered back to him. There was a knock on my door and Barba came in.

Nick stood up ready to be on the defense, he stood right in front of Mia with his fists up. "Nick," I said gently. "This is ADA Barba, he's going to be getting Donald Richardson found guilty so you never have to worry about him again."

Mia stood up and grabbed onto her brother. "What if he doesn't? What if he fails? Then what will happen?"

Barba walked forward calmly and stood in front of the two kids. "I'm not going to let him get away with what he did to you I can promise that. I will do everything in my power to make sure you never have to see him again after this is all said and done." He said looking Nick in the eye. "But I need your help to be able to put him away forever. I need you to tell the court your story."

Nick and Mia looked from one another then back to Barba, I held my breath, this was not going to end well. "You want us to tell everything that happened to a bunch of strangers?! Are you crazy?!" Mia screeched loudly, she gripped Nick's arm even harder in distress.

Nick was taking deep breaths trying to stay calm. "Mia, this might be a good thing," he said to his sister.

My eyes widened in surprise, Nick did not do what I expected him to do. Instead of saying absolutely not, he was thinking about it. I felt a sense of pride for some reason, it was like I was doing something right with these two kids.

Mia looked at her brother with wide eyes filled with shock. She wasn't the only one who was shocked, it was just shocking in general since they were always so in sync. What one did the other did, where one went the other went, it's very interesting how they acted when they disagreed. "Nick, are you kidding me?! Telling the world all the line people crossed with us, telling everyone what we had to do?! You really want to do that? You really want this following you around for the rest of your life," Mia exploded her green eyes wild and feral, she looked almost like a cornered animal.

Nick sighed, he stood there for a moment and slowly nodded his head turning to Barba. "We'll do it. Just give me some time to talk my sister into it, but I'm only doing this if you can get Donald and the rest of the people like him out of our lives." He said biting his lip before turning to me. "You've been the kindest person ever to us, so I'm going to give you something in return. I will give you the names of all the people Mia and I know from the sex trafficking ring."

My eyes widened as I grabbed a pad and pen. "Thank you Nick," I said and I turned to Mia who was standing there shocked as if she couldn't believe he changed his mind so quickly.

"Now I know he's really lost it," she groaned shaking her head. "It was my idea to trust you in the first place by the way."

Barba smiled at me in amusement, it seemed even he could grow fond over these kids. "I'll see you later Liv, also starting prepping them for court."

Barba left and Nick started listing off names of the people who had hurt he and his sister so badly. I was shocked at all the people who were on the list as well as one name that made my blood run cold. I thought this man was dead, I thought I had put him away for good but apparently not.


	8. Work It Out

(Chapter 8)

(Nick's POV)

Mia and I were in Liv's office while she was at Arraignment Court, the tension between Mia and I was obvious. I knew Mia was pissed with me for being kind of hypocritical but it all finally clicked for me. If Mia and I tell our story and go on a limb and trust the police then maybe we wouldn't get hurt anymore. I wanted to trust Olivia Benson, I felt like she understood what we went through. Like she understood what it was like to be held captive and hurt, maybe in not all the same ways but I knew there was something there. I don't just connect to everyone I meet, so this lady most have been through hell to be able to understand my sister and I. Or she was just a good liar, but I have never met a liar as good as her before.

"What's wrong with you?" Mia blurted out after awhile. "I mean seriously, one minute you're all like 'no we shouldn't trust them'" She said impersonating my voice. "And then the next you are all so trusting. What the hell Nicholas Hart? What. The. Hell."

"Well first of all Mia Nicole Hart, watch your language," I said giving her a look. I had been the only parental figure she has ever had so I had to do the best I could to teach her something good for once. "And I changed my mind. I now think it's best if we trust them because they could put away people like Richardson and all of them. I want this to end Mia, I don't want to ever have to worry about who's coming after s ever again. I want to have a nice life, you know?"

She sighed shaking her head as if she thought I had lost it, which I probably had by then. I just wanted a better life for me and my sister, we have suffered way too much. I want Mia to be able to read, spell her name, and make something of herself. She didn't deserve the hand life gave her, if there was a reset button that I could push to start over my life and my sister's I would push it in a heartbeat. I would love the chance to be born to parents that didn't die and not have to go into the foster care system.

"Nick, I just don't want to get hurt again. We have always made the rule that we don't let anyone too close to us because if we do they will hurt us." Mia said shaking her head. "Now here I go changing my mind! I'm just as bad as you!" She groaned loudly as she played with the toy cars Detective Rollins brought in for us a little while ago.

"That's the best way you can sound little sister, exactly like your big brother," I said grinning at her. "Remember what we talked about earlier? I know what's best for us because I'm the oldest okay? I have had more life experience then you have so I get to call the shots."

"I know," Mia sighed pulling her dark hair out of her eyes. "I just was stating my opinion, I want to help call the shots too! You shouldn't have to do it all yourself because that's not right. I'm your sister, your younger sister yes, but still your sister. I should take some of the work from you."

I smiled at her, my sister had a huge heart. I loved her to pieces, she may not have any schooling but she was smarter than most kids. "Thank you Mia, but it's my job to take care of you. And remember, no boys until your thirty." I said winking at her.

She simply giggled and rolled her eyes at me, making the red car which had become her favorite do a backflip. "I don't think you'll have to worry about that Nick. I don't want to be near boys or men for a long time. Too many bad memories," she said sadly as she played with the car. "I wish I could block it all out you know? But then who would get our captor in jail?"

"Good point," I agreed with her as I laid down on my back with my hands behind my head. I was tired but I didn't want to fall asleep here at the station. I would go to sleep if Mia and I were in Olivia's apartment because I felt kind of safe there, just kind of though not all the way. "But if I could start our lives over, if we could get a set of whole new parents and a whole new place to live then I would do it in a heartbeat. I would do whatever I had to, to make sure we didn't end up back in the position we were in."

"I would too but I wouldn't want to redo everything because what if you were a jerk wad in the reset version of our lives?" Mia teased me, her green eyes were sparkling in amusement and joy of messing with me. "That would suck, I mean you can be a jerk wad now but it would be a nightmare if you were a terror full time. I would hate it." Mia groaned shaking her head.

"And what if I had an annoying little sister?" I asked her pretending to think, my golden eyes were glittering with all sorts of bad ideas. "Oh wait, I already have one."

"Hey!" Mia huffed crossing her arms and pouting. "I am not annoying! I am just plain awesome! You're jealous of all of this," she said gesturing to her body.

"Yeah, sure M." I said rolling my eyes as I closed my eyes with a smirk of amusement. "Whatever makes you sleep better at night."

"I sleep like a baby now, thank you." Mia said, I couldn't see her because my eyes were closed but I imagine she was rolling those annoying green eyes of her.

Mia and I may have gone through a lot but we were just like every other brother and sister except maybe a little closer. We were family, and all each other had but we were just like regular kids. People may act like they were walking on eggshells around us but they really didn't need to do that. We were perfectly fine, if you had something to say to us just say it, I couldn't promise you how we would react but we would reply to you. Mia and I weren't ones just to flat out ignore someone, we were more confrontational as you could tell, but we were willing to compromise. We learned to compromise with each other because we always had to work together if we wanted to live to see tomorrow.


	9. Bail

(Chapter 9)

(Nick's POV)

The door to Liv's office opened and Olivia walked in. Mia gave her a wave before going back to her cars while I waited for her to tell us the news. She set her sunglasses down on her desk and sat in her leather rolling chair. "His bail was set at 500,000 but he made bail." Olivia said biting her lip.

"Okay," I said slowly not really knowing what that meant, I wasn't too familiar about the court of law. All I knew was they had a stick they whacked down to get people to be quiet. At least that's what I saw on cartoons when I was younger and in foster care. In foster care you were either doing chores all day or you were set in front of the T.V and told not to make a sound or move. I had some pretty crappy foster homes. "What does that mean?"

"It means he's out of jail before trial," Olivia said slowly, my heart literally stopped beating for a moment. Donald was back out in the world? Mia and I were dead, we wouldn't see tomorrow. Of course when I tried to trust someone who was an adult they would betray me like this. "But he's wearing an ankle bracelet that tracks where he is at all times so he won't be able to get near you two."

"Like that makes me feel so much better," I said, my golden eyes filled with anger and hurt. "I can't believe I actually thought things would change. I can't believe I actually thought it would be okay to trust you! The only one I can trust is Mia and that's because we're freaking family." I sighed as I began to take off my shirt. "Let's get this over with, what do you want me to do?"

Mia looked at me with eyes wild with fear but this was our reality. Of course we couldn't even trust SVU because everyone always wanted to hurt us. No one loved us, so we had to love each other. Mia hugged the car to her chest as tears came into her eyes, I knew she was crushed.

"Nick put your shirt back on please," Olivia commanded me, I looked at her weirdly but slowly did what I was told. "You can trust me, both of you can. I'm sorry he made bail, Barba did the best he could to make sure he didn't but he has money coming from some unknown source."

"Well that's just wonderful," I said rolling my eyes. "But Mia and I need to get out of here. We are going to be deader than a door nail by tomorrow morning and I would rather spend it fighting then going down without one."

"Nick," Olivia said standing up from her desk and coming around to stand in front of me. "I'm not going to let him or the ring hurt any of you or Mia. We are hunting down the names you have given us and we have already found four of them. You have helped us so much, so let us help you. I can promise you, if you testify he will go to jail for life. All you have to do is tell your story."

"Let's give it a chance Nick," Mia said grabbing onto my arm gently. "You were the one who convinced me into this like an hour ago. Let's not let this deter us from getting justice for ourselves. After all the hell we've been through we deserve something to go right in our lives. Don't you agree?" She asked me, her green eyes wide with desperation.

I looked away from her, I didn't want to give in but knew since she flashed me those eyes that she had every day of our lives I had. I had to because I could finally take that look of despair and drowning away and replace it with a look of relief and safety. I slowly nodded my head and Mia physically relaxed going back to making her cars run into each other. "Fine," I said in a harsh voice. "But he doesn't get near us. I don't want him touching me or even getting in my face. Can you do that?" I asked trying to keep my voice from showing any obvious fear.

"Yes I can do that," Olivia said nodding her head to me. "Thank you Nick, you are doing something really brave and so are you Mia. I'm sure your parents would have been really proud of the both of you."

"Yeah, well they're dead so they wouldn't be," I said with a shrug. "They would be disappointed in me because I didn't protect my sister enough. I should have took every beating for her and not just stayed silent as our captors beat the crap out of her. I should have gave her my ration of food when she was still hungry. I should have done so much more." I said shaking my head.

Mia was just silent, she wasn't even listening, she was in her own little world. Mia got that way sometimes, she would just stare off into space and get lost in her own thoughts. It didn't matter what you did or anything because she was somewhere else and not on earth. She was happiest in her own little world so I didn't try to get her out of it anymore because I wanted to have a little happiness.

Olivia gestured for me to go out of the office, I sighed and did as she wanted. Once we were in one of the interrogation rooms she turned to me. "Nick, none of this was your fault. You did what you needed to do to survive. What matters now is that Mia and you are alive and are safe." Olivia said to me, she reached out to touch me but I flinched away from her. "It's okay. You're okay Nick, no one's going to hurt you or Mia here."

"Good," I said slowly. "Because I don't want that on my conscience either. I already have done enough damage to my sisters life." I said sadly and the memories came rushing back. "They...they made me do things to her. They...they made me rape her," I said tears filling my eyes and they fell to the ground.

I remember the first time I was forced to rape her, I was about thirteen and our most recent captor thought it would be funny if I hurt my sister in the worst way possible. It was awful, Mia wouldn't even let me help her for a few weeks because she was so terrified of what I did to her. Now she understands that I was forced to do those things and that wasn't my choice but she still sometimes wakes up screaming 'no Nick!' during the night.

"Nick," Olivia said in a empathetic voice. "I can't even imagine how much pain you and your sister have been through. What they made you do is on them not you. You did nothing wrong, you did what you had to do to not have you and your sister killed." She said shaking her head softly. "None of it is your fault. Your job was just to survive, you couldn't have protected Mia."

"I should of though! She is my responsibility," I exploded turning away from her. "Why am I even telling you this?" I muttered quietly.

"It's because you feel guilty when you don't need to, it's natural to feel like it's all your responsibility but it's not. That's what you have to remember, the people who did this are responsible not you. Donald Richardson and the rest are going to get what they deserve when we go to court," Olivia promised me.

"I hope to god they do," I said shaking my head. "I'm never letting them near me or my sister again, I'm not going back into foster care, and I'm not going to be owned by anyone ever again." I snapped my eyes full of fire.

"Nick I can't promise you about not going into foster care but-"

"No, I can tell you right now I'm not going back into the system and neither is Mia. That system is messed up! I have had nothing but bad things happen and I'm not going to let anymore of that crap happen," I said turning towards Olivia.

She sighed running a hand through her hair. "I understand that Nick, when the trial is over we will talk about what your options are. We need to get through the trial first though before anything else."


	10. Sugar

(Chapter 10)

(Mia's POV)

Today was the morning of the trial and I was on the stand first so Olivia took me and Nick to the Court House at six a.m to prep as she called it. I was in this really pretty dress Detective Rollins got for me and Nick was in a suit that Detective Tutoula got him. My hair was clean and out of my face with head band, this was the nicest I looked in a long time. My dress was the color of my eyes, green, and my head band was black it almost completely blended in with my hair, I also had these pretty shiny black flats on. For once in my life I felt almost beautiful.

Mr. Barba stood in front of me in a nice suit, he was going to help me that's what Olivia said. Nick wasn't so sure about him but he kind of trusted Olivia so he was going to kind of trust Mr. Barba to help us through this. To be honest I was kind of scared about today, Olivia had walked us through it last night but I still wasn't sure what was going to happen. It was all so confusing, Nick said all I had to do was answer the questions and everything would be fine.

"Alright Mia let's get started." Mr. Barba said standing about five feet away from me. "Can you tell me how you ended up in the defendants home."

"My brother and I were bought by the defendant from another sex trafficker." I said biting my lip.

"How long has this been going on? The buying and selling of you and your brother's bodies?" Mr. Barba asked me and I flinched away from his question.

I didn't like to think about what happened, right now I longed to be sitting on the floor in Olivia's office playing with the cars. It was like I was in my own little world there, Nick dealt with all the issues which I liked. I didn't know what to do and Nick seemed to, the only time I didn't want to go along with what he said is when he changed his mind so quickly. I had no clue why he changed it but he did so here we were.

"Ever since I was six, we were sold out of foster care to the first captor," Mia said nodding her head.

"Mia, remember to call the captors traffickers, it's important for the jury to hear that." Mr. Barba said to me and sighed nodding my head.

"Sorry Mr. Barba," I said and I looked to my brother who was watching me while leaning against the wall so he could see the whole room. "I can't do this. It's just too hard."

Nick got off the wall and came over to me. "Yes you can Mia. You can do anything. You're my sister, the bravest person I know. You're going to put this guy where he belongs and so am I. I know we both hate these questions but they have to know," Nick said looking into my green eyes with his golden eyes. "They have to know the pain and suffering he put us through, because Mia he and the rest of them took everything from us. Our childhood, our safety, and our fearlessness. We're fighters so let's show them that we are not going to let the people who hurt us get away with it without one hell of a fight okay M?" Nick asked me.

I sighed, my brother sure was good at giving pep talks. Maybe a little too good, he can talk me into the craziest things, hell he could probably make me believe I could fly. "I guess so Nick, I just want it to be over."

"It will be Mia," Olivia said walking up next to my brother. "You just have to tell the truth and it will all be okay. I promise alright?" She asked me.

I nodded my head solemnly, I still was not liking this testifying thing with all the questions. I felt like I had to tell them all my secrets but I didn't want to tell my secrets, I wanted to keep them bottled up inside and not think about them. That wasn't what was going to happen though, I had to think about it. Ignoring it was not an option at all and Nick and Olivia would say that it's unhealthy.

"Alright Mia, next question." Mr. Barba said with a sigh. "How long were you with the defendant?"

"For several months," I said frowning up at the ceiling. "I don't know the exact number but it was awhile."

"What would the defendant make you do? Or have others do to you?" Mr. Barba asked me.

I looked down at my hands, they were shaking and sweating. I didn't want to answer that question because it brought forth so many memories I tried so hard to push back. I looked up at Nick who nodded his head and put his fist to his heart which was our sign for be brave. We used it whenever one of us was whisked away to a 'client'.

"He would let men rape me and he made my brother rape me a few times. As well as other stuff." I said quietly looking at my hands.

I hated this, I just wanted it to over. In a way this was worse than being raped, being asked all these questions was terrifying it was making me relieve every little moment of it. I shook my head trying to focus on what was about to unfold. I was scared to death what the people on the other side of the argument were going to ask me. Olivia had already prepped Nick and I that the 'defense' would try to spin it a different way and might even blame us for what happened. Olivia told us just to believe what we said not what the defense said. I was hoping I could do that, but this was already going to be hard enough. If the attorney said something about it being my fault then I would probably believe him.

I stepped down from the stand, we had an hour before the trial and Olivia had promised Nick and I food if we got ready and came here. I hoped we ate something sugary, I loved sugar and it was a rare delicacy my brother and I never got to have. Maybe Olivia had a lot of sugar, I hope she did, then it would make all of this worth my time just to be able to eat sugar. As well as making sure the people who did this to us were locked up forever but the sugar sounded nicer and a lot less painful.


	11. For Mia

**Hey lolamay101 here, sorry I haven't updated in a few days I have been really swamped with school. Thanks for the reviews, follows and just for reading! It makes me smile every time I see a new review or follow or my number of views on this story goes up! So you guys rock! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 11)

(Nick's POV)

I watched through helpless eyes as Mia sat next to the judge. She was nervously fiddling with her dress. I wanted to go up there and swoop her up in my arms like I would do when she was really little, and tell her that she didn't have to do this. The truth was that neither of us had a choice in this matter, it's either suck it up and get this whack job put away. Or it's be a coward and let the guy come after us and other kids. Mia and I weren't cowards so we chose the first option. I just hope I don't regret it later.

Mia had told her side of the story to the jury by answering all the questions Mr. Barba asked her. He seemed to be on our side, Liv says he's like our own attorney but I'm not too sure about that. It was now the defense turn to ask her questions and I could tell that was making her nervous.

Mr. Buchanan stood up smoothing out his ruffled blue dress shirt and adjusting his black jacket. I really didn't like him, he did not seem like a very nice man. I didn't really think men were nice in general so maybe I was a little biased, just a little though. It didn't matter, what was important was getting Mia through this bit of the trial and trying no to freak out.

I looked over at Olivia who was sitting next to me, she was watching Mia stoned face as if trying not to scare her and at the same time unsure how to comfort my sister. Mia was a complicated girl that not many people really understood. All our captors thought she was dumb when really she was brilliant. She was really bright but she didn't know how to read or write which wasn't her fault. No one really took the time to teach her to do so and that was the unfortunate thing. Mia could have been so much more then just another slave. She could have been a young protege of some sort, like an artist or an writer or maybe even a mathematician. I'm not so sure about the last one since Mia hates to count but she could be something brilliant.

"Mia Hart, can I call you Mia?" Mr. Buchanan asked my little sister, she nodded her head shyly. "Good, let me just say I'm so sorry for what you have been through, it must have been hard living in forty different foster homes." He said his voice was laced with fake sympathy. "Now tell me did you like what your brother did to you?" He asked her.

Mr. Barba stood up. "Objection! Witness has already been asked a question similar question."

The judge shook her head, she had curly brown hair, mocha skin and green eyes. "I will allow it. Witness will answer." She said folding her arms on the place in front of her.

I looked at Olivia with my eyes full of alarm, why was she allowing such a question. Liv looked at me as if she couldn't tell me anything that would make it better so it was better not to say anything at all. Mia looked at me with wide eyes, I mouthed 'just tell the truth' at her because there wasn't much else I could do at that point.

Mia shook her head. "No of course not. I couldn't have controlled how my body reacted to Nick doing the things he did to me." Mia answered, her green eyes staying on me the whole time.

"So then you liked it? Well at least your body liked it, it seems your brother should be on the defense then my client," Mr. Buchanan said shrugging.

"Objection! Speculation and badgering the witness." Mr. Barba said standing up, thank god he was here otherwise Buchanan would say something even worse.

"Sustained," the judge said looking over at the defense attorney. "Watch yourself Mr. Buchanan."

"Sorry," he said with a smirk. "Do you love your brother Mia?"

"More then anything, but not in the way you are implying," Mia said looking at me helplessly. I could tell she was wanting to put her hands over her ears and go into her little world but she couldn't do that with all these people here.

The protective big brother inside of me was pulling and tugging at me to stand up and be her hero but I knew that wouldn't get us anywhere. Olivia already had told me all about mistrials and how they work. It's still confusing but I was going to do everything in my power to make sure one doesn't happen so I don't have to put my sister through this twice.

"What way am I implying?" Mr. Buchanan asked her with a shrug of his huge shoulders.

"That I love him in a different way then a brother." Mia said making a disgusted face and I held in a laugh.

"Ah, so that's what you think." Mr. Buchanan said in amusement. "Maybe that's why you liked what he did to you so much? Did you enjoy it?"

"No I didn't enjoy it," Mia said trying to be patient, I could tell she was ready to blow her top. "I couldn't control how my body reacted and I was forced to say I enjoyed it! It's not like I wanted my brother to have sex with me!"

"Mia, you just called it sex not rape. That means you consented with it." Mr. Buchanan said going to stand in front of the jury. "Nothing further." He said going to sit down.

I was boiling with anger, he just messed with the wrong boys sister. How dare he make it look like something it's really not! I was forced to rape my sister and if he had any conscience at all and didn't just care about his pay check he wouldn't have said those things to her. I wanted to hurt him badly, I wanted him to feel the pain Mia and I felt on a daily so he could see what it's like to be someone else's slave.

We took a break for lunch and Mia ran to me and hugged me. She began to sob into my chest, he probably brought up a lot of bad memories for her. "Shh..shh it's okay." I said holding her. I looked directly at Olivia as if telling her Mia will not be getting back up on the stand again. "I've got you. What he said isn't true and we both know it. If the judge and the jury have any sense they will believe it too."

Mia just cried, I felt utterly helpless then. I couldn't do anything to make her stop crying it was just like we were back in those dog crates again and I could reach her to hold her hand or anything. I just wish I could do something to help her, but I knew what I could do. I could testify and show how big of a monster this guy and the rest of the sex trafficking ring is. I knew this was only the beginning for Mia and I and our court experience. I could feel that we would be back ready to be cut to pieces by a pack of defense attorneys. I hoped Mr. Barba knew what he was doing and I hoped he knew how deep this ring ran. It was not going to be easy to take it down but I was going to think positive. I had to do that, for Mia.


	12. A Crossroads

**Hey lolamay101 here, so sorry I haven't updated in awhile! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 12)

(Benson's POV)

I was in Barba's office, I had dropped the kids at the station under Rollins care. She seemed to be pretty good with them although they didn't really trust her yet. I knew it would be just a matter a time before they did though.

I sat across from Barba who was leaning back in his chair in deep thought. This trial was going to be longer and harder than we both expected. We also had to deal with William Lewis who was on the loose. Nobody but me, Barba, and the kids knew, Lewis was my main focus as well as the well being of the kids. I wanted to make sure this guy was gone for good this time so he never had the chance to hurt anyone again. I think he's probably one of the worst enemies I have faced so far and that was saying something. I have faced a lot of bad guys through all my years of being in SVU. He was the one though that gave me nightmares at night.

I sighed looking over at Barba, we needed to talk about what happened today. "Buchanan tore Mia apart on the stand today." I sighed.

Barba looked over at me. "That's an understatement, he more like destroyed her and any self confidence she had." He said rolling a pen around on his desk. "The question is how are we going to get Nick to keep his cool on the stand? He's not exactly a people person."

"You wouldn't be either if you gone through what he has." I said sighing. I flicked my hair out of my eyes as I cleared my throat to speak again. "But I think he will be able to do it. He wants justice now, and since Buchanan tore Mia apart on the stand he's going to want revenge."

"That's the problem Benson," Barba said glancing up at me. "We can't have him attacking Buchanan no matter how big of an ass he is. So the question is, how do we keep him calm? You know Buchanan's going to paint the picture with Nick as the rapist and torturer not Donald. Hopefully the jury will realize these guys are just children. Innocent children. Not like the one kid that wanted to burn his sister alive or kill people." Barb a said shuddering as if that case was something he really did not want to think about what would happen if Donald walked.

If Donald walked Nick and Mia would never forgive us. They would live in constant fear that they would end up back into Donald's and the ring's hands. I had no clue how I would keep them calm if Donald walked. I had a feeling Nick would runaway with Mia thinking he would rather take his chances by himself then work with the people who got Donald free. That's exactly how they would get tangled up in the ring again.

My phone rang, I sighed seeing it was Dodds. Something probably happened with Nick and Mia. "Benson." I said calmly.

Dodds spoke calmly and quickly into the phone relaying the situation to me. My heart began to pound and blood roared in my ears, this was not good. This was worse than I feared, the impossible had happened. Then again, it was very possible for this to happen but the question is why didn't my detectives stop it.

I hung up the phone and then turned to Barba who was looking at me expectantly. I took a deep breath getting ready to launch into an explantation.

(Nick's POV)

I can't believe what happened, it was not right, and it was horrible. I was going absolutely ape. I was tearing things apart left and right because of what happened to my little sister. They took her. The ring took her right off the street. We turned around for literally a second and she was gone. We searched and searched but couldn't find a trace of her.

"Nick you need to calm down." Fin said attempting to calm me down like the rest had.

"She's gone! You let her get taken just like you all promised you wouldn't! You said that we would be safe! I want to see Olivia! I will calm down when I see Olivia." I decided, Olivia was the most competent out of all of them she could fix this.

I knocked a coffee pot over and it shattered on the floor I swore as I watched the coffee spill. I was almost ready to start screaming because of how upset I was. My sister was gone and there was no one to protect her. I was her protecter it was my job to look after her and make sure she's okay. Now I couldn't do that because they took her away. They could be anywhere by now, and I had no power to stop it again.

I looked over as Olivia entered the station I went right up to her. "I need to find my sister. You're the only one who's capable of finding her right? You have found lots of kids like Mia right?" I asked her my eyes filling up with tears I was barely holding on.

Olivia looked at me and slowly nodded her head. "Yes Nick, and we're going to find her. I think I have an idea who took her." She said, her voice constricted as if this was painful even for her to recognize.

She pulled out a note and handed it to me. "Welcome to the game Lieutenant Benson and Nicholas Hart." I read out loud. I looked at her shaking my head, it couldn't be him. Why him of all people?! Why couldn't it have been one of the idiots? "No. No. He will...will do all sorts of horrible things to her. He...he would always request me why did he take her?"

Olivia simply shook her head. "I don't know Nick," she said in a soothing voice. "But I know this guy. He took me once, I know we will find him though." Olivia said before turning to Dodds and the rest of the SVU team. She said a bunch of words that I didn't understand.

I knew the guy who took her, his name is William Lewis. He always did horrible things to me, he burned me and did other things that I will not speak of. I want him to be gone for life. I don't care if this gets me thrown in jail, I am going to kill him for putting his grimy paws on Mia.


	13. Therapy

(Chapter 13)

(Nick's POV)

I was finally letting myself break down. I was in the apartment bathroom crying my eyes out. How could I have let her out of my sight? She was my sister, my responsibility, how could I have been so careless? Of course when I was about to relax this happens. There was a knock on the door but I ignored it. I didn't want to talk to anyone right now. I just wanted to find a way to get through the night tonight. I knew I wasn't going to sleep a wink and I had to appear in court tomorrow.

The only reason I was even going to court was for Mia but now she was gone. I didn't have time to play politics in a court room. My sister was in the hands of a monster and I could do nothing about it. I was about as useful as being locked in a dog crate. That made me laugh through my tears, even out of the dog crate I still couldn't do anything. Maybe I was nothing but a stupid whore. That's what everyone of those men said anyway. Sorry for my language, I have a dirty mouth but it's only because of what the men said around me. They have said worse to Mia, luckily she's smarter than me and doesn't let words like that slip out.

There was another knock on the door. I sighed whoever it was, probably Liv, was not going away anytime soon. I had been in this bathroom for almost an hour and she hasn't gone away. I ran a hand through my hair as there was a knock on the door. I turned towards it and walked over to the door. I put my hand on the handle but I did not open it. I wasn't ready to go out and face the world.

I closed my eyes, it brought me back to when I was a little kid before my parents died. I would trade anything to go back to that so I wasn't dealing with this situation that I was now. I was forced to grow up way too soon I never had a childhood. My childhood was rape and drugs that's all. I never got to be a kid...and that was a sad thing.

I opened the door, my face was tear stained and my golden eyes were blinking the tears away. Liv was standing there and she looked at me with her brown eyes full of empathy as if she understood what it was like to have someone ripped away from you. Mia wasn't just a someone though, she was someone I loved. She was my little sister the only family I had left.

"Come on Nick, let's get some food in you." Liv said walking towards the kitchen.

I followed her in with a sigh. The last thing I wanted to do was eat but I wasn't going to tell her that. She had seen the tears come out I didn't need to let her know how truly devastated I was. I couldn't let her get past anymore of my defenses, Mia's life depends on it.

I sat down at the table where Noah was eating, the young boy looked at me with wide eyes. He was a curious and quiet ones, those were the ones you had to watch out for. Who knows what was going through that little kids mind right now, he could be planning anything. I think that's really the scary thing about little kids, you have no idea what they are planning or understanding. We think they understand very little when I actually think they know a lot. I was just a dumb teenager so what did I know?

Liv put a plate with chicken nuggets, green beans, and strawberries in front of me and the same things in front of Noah. I picked up a green bean with my hands, Liv gave a pointed look to my fork. I sighed, I never did learn table manners. I ate out of a dog bowl quite literally, my captors found amusement in trying to treat me and Mia exactly like dogs.

I picked up the fork and held it the best way I could before taking a bite of a green bean with the fork. It was actually pretty good but I didn't want to show anymore emotion to Liv tonight. I already had cried in front of her, I didn't need her to think I was Bipolar or something.

I wondered if Lewis was feeding Mia, probably not. He was probably filling her full of drugs, the thought of that made me sick to my stomach. I didn't want my sister to die of an overdose or something like that. I have heard rumors of other kids in the ring dying of an overdose. I wasn't anywhere near the drugging people because apparently I was too valuable. Mia was with Lewis who was one of the kings of the rings. He had changed charasitics according to the ring. He used to try to hurt people so bad that they would be in the hospital for weeks.

I munched on a chicken nugget, Liv was talking with Noah while keeping an eye on me all at the same time. How she did that I would never know. It must be a mother thing to be able to watch something and be able to talk to someone at the same time. I felt uncomfortable under her watchful gaze, I shifted in my seat nervously. I hated being watched, I had been watched all my life. I just wanted some privacy for once.

This reminded me of my first foster home, it was the first night there. I was a little kid and we were all sitting around the table. I remember eating something similar to what I was eating now. I was allowed to use my hands though. No one really minded that in foster care, I'm glad Liv minded though because that to me was a sign that showed she cared about what happened to us. Why would she reinforce manners if she didn't care about us?

I finished dinner and Liv took my plate as well as Noah's to the sink while we sat watching. She excused us a little while later to get ready for bed. I put on a night shirt she found for me and pajama pants. I was sleeping in Mia's sleeping bag in Noah's room. It made me sad that she wasn't there to sleep in it. It was like the wound was reopened all over again and it was painful. I hated every second of laying in that dark room in that hot sleeping bag that smelled like her.

I closed my eyes and fell asleep to the smell of my sister. I slowly began to dream I was in this car. It was a black car that was built family style, I was in kind of a bird's eyes point of view. Mia laid passed out in one of the seats and she slowly woke up. Her eyes were all glassy and her pupils were dilated. The car suddenly lurched to a stop and I heard the car door open and then slam shut. For a moment Mia and I were alone in the back seat but then we weren't alone anymore. The door to the back area of the car opened and the devil himself, William Lewis, reared his ugly head in. He had a bottle of Vodka in his hand.

I tried to hit him but I found I couldn't move. I was just a little fly on the wall that was unnoticeable and unimportant to the things that were going on in that back seat. I watched helplessly as he opened up the bottle of death. Mia shied away from him as if it took all her strength and focus just to avoid the monster with the bottle. Lewis grabbed my little sister's face and forced her to look at him. He didn't say anything. He just smirked at her and looked into her green eyes that looked almost dead. He pried open her lips and poured the Vodka down her throat.

Mia coughed and sputtered begging him to stop but he made her swallow. He was nice enough to give her a moment before forcing more Vodka down her throat. It was like the bottle was never ending. He just kept pouring and pouring while Mia was forced to keep drinking. Finally the Vodka bottle was empty, finally he could leave my sister in peace. He got out a piece of duct tape and duct taped her mouth before slamming the car door and starting to drive again.

I sat up like a shot, my golden eyes were looking around the room in a panicked manner. I took a deep breath and laid my head down again. I looked over and jumped seeing my little sister with her throat ripped out laying next to me. Her lips formed the words help me but no sound came out.

I woke up screaming and Noah woke up crying because I was screaming. Liv rushed into the room flipping on the light. She first rushed over to Noah and got him to calm down before she came over to me. My head was in my hands and my eyes were wet with unshed tears. I just saw my sister die, I don't care that it was a dream. What mattered was that it felt real to me. I shook my head trying to breathe and convince myself that Mia was still alive. I wanted my sister to still be breathing and not getting Vodka shoved down her throat or not being forced to have sex with strangers. Is that too much to ask for?

Liv sat down next to me but didn't touch me knowing I didn't want to be touched. Noah was already back to sleep even with the light on. I had just scared him with my screaming. I didn't feel great about that but there was nothing I could do to change it now.

"Are you okay Nick?" Liv asked me her brown eyes searching for mine.

I refused to look at her, I didn't want to show weakness to a woman have known for only three or four days. It may have felt like longer but I knew the truth. People who could get inside your head like Olivia could were dangerous. I don't care if you were a freaking saint and you could do that you were still dangerous.

"I'm fine, thank you Olivia." I said softly as I looked at the door that had been left ajar.

"You don't look fine Nick. Did you have a nightmare?" Liv asked me in a gentle and soothing voice that I had come to loathe and find therapeutic.

"It does matter if I did or didn't. What matters is whatever I had is over. You should probably get to sleep you have a tougher job then me," I said shrugging my shoulders as if I was indifferent to that fact.

"Come on Nick talk to me. What's wrong?" She asked me sitting on the floor right in front of me so I couldn't avoid looking at her without being rude.

I simply shrugged my shoulders. Liv wasn't my therapist or my parent, she was just a police officer that happened to walk into my life at the right moment. Why should I even trust her? She let Mia go missing for God's sake! If she was really this mighty and powerful lieutenant then she wouldn't have let my baby sister disappear. I shook my head, I was think irrationally she had helped me. Well at least she had tried but still my mind was pulling me towards to not trusting her. I was just so confused, all I wanted was somebody to tell me which voice in my head to listen to.


	14. Pure Bliss

(Chapter 14)

(Mia's POV)

I was so cold, my vision was going in and out but I could tell I was in the back of a car in the trunk. My hands were tied and so were my feet, my mouth was duct taped shut so I couldn't make any noise. I was almost immobile, I think it was because of the drugs. I knew my captor was William Lewis, he already requested Nick for some reason when he was more interested in breaking into woman's homes and hurting them really bad. He would always burn Nick with different items.

I tried to move and was barely able to hit the side of the car. I wanted my brother, I wanted to go home to where I was safe. I even wanted to see Liv, she was familiar and a police officer, she would protect me from whatever wanted to hurt me.

The car lurched to a stop and I heard the car door open and then slam shut. I waited for a moment, for the foot steps coming towards me. The foot steps are what I learned to fear when I was in the dog crate. You never make eye contact and you never make a sound when you hear the foot steps. I couldn't hear them but I could feel them coming, it was like a pounding in my veins. My heart kept making loud booming noises, I was so scared of what was going to happen to me. I didn't want to die, I had been through so much but surprisingly I wanted to keep living. I wanted to keep fighting so that I wouldn't end up utterly broken.

The trunk popped open and Lewis grabbed my body. I tried to scream but my scream was muffled by the duct tape on my mouth. It was dark outside and I knew I wasn't in New York anymore. I was in the middle of nowhere, we were in front of this big house like the ones that would be used for parties. It was a plantation type of house and was surrounded by lots of land. It would have been pretty and nice if I wasn't about to meet my doom.

Lewis kicked open the door and smirked down at me as if he was just enjoying hurting people. In the foyer there was a man with dark brown hair and blue eyes waiting for us. I have never seen him before, but I was pretty sure I was thankful I hadn't. Wait. I had seen this man before, when I was really little. It was Nick and I first got sucked into this hellish nightmare. He was the head of the trafficking ring that we were, well I am, in.

"How much did you give her?" The head of the trafficking ring asked, he had a rough voice that sent chills down my spine for the fear of what was going to happen to me.

"Enough to keep her quiet, you know I would enjoy getting my hands on that lieutenant more." Lewis said, his voice coming out hushed. "Why do we even need the girl anyway? Why are we even bothering with them? It's not like they're that important and-"

"Save your manipulation for someone that it might actually work on," the head trafficker bit out. "Now take her down where the others are and give her the shot."

I heard Lewis sigh before we started moving again, I knew the ring was made of psychos but I didn't know just how psychotic and sadistic the ring really was. I felt my body being tossed around roughly, we were going down a set of stairs to a dark little room. It looked kind of like what Nick and my captor kept us in before Olivia rescued us. Except this place was bigger and had two girls and two boys there. At least that's what it looked like my vision started to cut in and out again.

Lewis put me down on the ground before untying my feet and hands. He left the duct tape on my mouth though, I guess they knew my history of screaming. I was scared of being locked in a tight space with too many people or just in a dog crate so I would scream myself hoarse. Lewis came back over with a needle, I tried to struggle away from him but he stuck it into my arm and pressed down on the shot. The affects were rapid, I felt myself growing dizzy but yet more relaxed. It was almost like I was in a haven of pure bliss.

"Wow, they've got her really knocked up," one of the boys said his voice sounded as if he was very far away from me. Really he was right in my face, he had blonde hair and blue eyes. He looked around my age.

"Rex! Get out of her face! Who knows what that drug he shot her with will do to her." A girl with brown and hazel eyes said. That was all I could really see, hair and eye color.

"Relax Max, she's not going to remember any of this," said a girl with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes.

My head was pounding it was like there was a hammer inside my head. The blissful effects had gone away quickly, now here was the pain. It was like I was standing on burning hot coals that were trying to fry my head into a crisp. I wanted it out of my head, I tried to reach up to hit my head but my movements were slow and weighted. I felt someone reach over and pin me down, that's what set me off. I began to struggle which made everything hurt ten times more. I kicked and tried to scream but I then blacked out after a little while. I couldn't keep up my fight, if Nick was here he would be able to. That's what hurt the most I think. My brother was better at surviving then I was, I was going to die here and I was never going to see my brother again.


	15. Outburst

(Chapter 15)

(Nick's POV)

I was sitting in Olivia's office while she was out looking for Mia, I wasn't allowed to go. It wasn't fair! She was my sister it should be me out there looking for her. I probably would have the best chance of finding her anyway since I didn't have anything else to do. The trial had to be post pond because of this situation and if they don't find Mia in three days then it would be declared a mistrial.

The door opened and I didn't move as Fin came in, he sat on Olivia's side of the desk. He looked into my eyes but I didn't look into his, I looked at the desk. All I saw was Mia in pain or being raped. It hurt so bad not to have my sister with me, I couldn't eat or sleep or do anything I needed to. I could barely even get dressed because all I wanted to do was sit and look at the ground. I felt as if I was bleeding out on the ground and no one but my sister, who was gone, could stop my bleeding.

"Hey kid, are you hungry?" Fin asked me.

I shook my head once. I didn't feel like talking. Talking meant sharing my feelings, and sharing my feelings meant admitting things I didn't want to admit.

"Do you want to do something?" Fin asked me. "There's a pretty girl who's Rollins's cousin in the squad room if you want to meet her." He said wiggling his eyebrows at me.

"Bethany get back here!" A southern accented woman called, that was Rollins.

A girl with blonde hair stepped into the room, she was my age. She had these pretty blue eyes that lit up when they landed on me. She had pale skin and ruby lips that looked perfect. Her blonde hair was put up into a pony tail and she was wearing blue jeans and a Georgia peaches t-shirt. She also was wearing a light blue jacket with black combat boots. She was a very pretty girl but she wasn't someone who I would want to get involved with. I had enough of being touched or in any type of relationship.

"Oh you must be the boy from the news! I'm Beth Rollins." Beth said with a smile holding out her hand for me to shake.

"Bethany! That was rude." Rollins admonished.

"What are you doing here Rollins?" Fin asked her. "I thought Liv wanted you to go to cold cases."

"Well they're closed today, otherwise I would be there with Beth." Rollins sighed.

I watched the exchange between them, it was weird to see people interact like normal human beings. I was used to hearing yelling and trying not to choke on the intoxicating smoke that filled the room at the parties. I also had the pain of watching my sister giving strangers lap dances. That was the worst, she was small for age in all aspects and it was just horrible to see her on some old man's lap.

Beth still had her hand out while I just looked at it, I wasn't the most social guy in the world. She shrugged putting her hand down as she couldn't care less. The door to the office opened once again and in came Liv. Her brown eyes widened seeing all the people in her office. "Looks like there was a party in here." Olivia said coming in.

Fin got out of Liv's chair and exited the office along with Beth and Rollins. I turned to her once she had taken a seat at her desk. I needed to know where they were on the search for Mia because I was trying to be cooperative by sitting out and being not disruptive but if they didn't find even a trace of her soon I needed to do it my way. "Liv," I said taking a deep breath.

Olivia looked at me with her brown eyes, she seemed deeply concerned about me. It was nice to know somebody cared, it made me feel good. I shook my head, I couldn't let these good feeling get to me. Mia was depending on me to stay sharp. "Yes Nick?" She finally said when she realized I got lost in thought. Whoops.

"Have you found anything at all about where Mia might be?" I asked as nicely as I possibly could without snapping out since talking about it did not exactly play to my nicer side.

She sighed her hands going onto the desk. "No, I'm sorry Nick. We're working as hard as we can to find her. We have gotten the description of type of car Lewis is driving and the plates but the car we found had been discarded in a car lot. The bright side of this, was there were samples of Mia's hair all around the back seat. So we can prove that she was in the car."

"What good does that do?" I snapped standing up with my hands on her desk. "That just makes it worst! She is still out there with that monster, or worse she's already dead," I said my eyes glazing over in anger. "Stop wasting my time with fake hope tell me how it is or I will go after her myself and I bet I will be even more successful then you." I snapped, my golden eyes glaring right into her brown ones.

Olivia looked very surprise at the outburst, but I was frustrated. I was supposed to be the one protecting my sister but yet I can't. I am stuck with these people who are doing almost nothing to find my sister. I was foolish to even have hope they would find her. First thing tomorrow I was setting out on my own to find her.

"Nick," she said calmly with her eyes full of empathy. "We are on your side, I know it doesn't seem like it but we are doing everything we can to find Mia. We are tracing every data base we can and are searching all over New York for her. We have shut down the airports and all the ways out of New York so we have them trapped in one area. It's just going to take some time to find her. I will find her alive, I promise you," Olivia said looking into my eyes.

I simply shrugged, I didn't know what to do. Maybe I should give Olivia and her team another chance but if I did it might end up in Mia's death. I shook my head, I had to make a choice and I had to make the right one for Mia's sake. My sister's survival depended solely on me.


	16. Stay

(Chapter 16)

(Nick's POV)

It was three a.m and I had packed my bags with the little I had which all fit in a trash bag. I felt like a homeless person which I was but that was besides the point. It had been two days since Liv had found the car Mia and Lewis took. There had been nothing but crickets about my sister, it's like she fell off the face of the earth. They had opened all the pathways out of New York back up because they had to. I was furious and I knew I could do more then Olivia and her team could do by myself. I knew exactly what to do to get my sister to safety.

I left Noah sleeping in the room we had been sharing, I shouldered the trash bag and took a silent step forward. I took a deep breath as I walked, Olivia had done a good amount for me but it was time to let go. I wasn't going to get a happy ending, I had accepted that a long time ago. Mia was still very young, she had a chance to be happy and I was going to make sure that chance happened.

I entered the living room and was about to open the door when the lamp light was flipped on. I turned and saw Olivia sitting in one of the chairs smiling sadly at me. "What? You were going to go without saying goodbye." Olivia asked me.

"You're not going to try to stop me?" I asked with a curious frown. I would think she would not want a sixteen year old boy running away from his caretaker but what did I know? I had like a second graders education at most.

"No Nick, I'm not going to try and stop you," Olivia chuckled shaking her head. "You would have just walked out the door when I wasn't looking anyway. You're a smart boy, even if I had a squad car in front of the apartment building 24/7 you would still find a way to sneak past it."

"So why you are up like this?" I asked her with my arms crossed. I didn't get what she was trying to do. It almost made me afraid, I shook my head. I couldn't show fear because otherwise that was what was going to end my search for Mia.

"Because I want to say goodbye to you Nick and, I don't want you to go because I think you could be a big help in the case." Olivia said looking me in the eyes.

What? I thought she didn't want me involved in the case. She had made it very clear that I was the cheerleader during this whole thing. I needed to leave the police work to the adults and needed to focus on just keeping myself safe. "What do you mean?" I asked her as I shifted my bag onto my other shoulder.

She smiled softly at me seeing that I was interested. "Nick, I am being completely honest with you because I know you can take it. The truth about the search for Mia is we're running out of options. We have used almost every resource we could but life isn't a fairytale," Olivia said shaking her head. "Saving people isn't as easy as writers make it seem like in the stories. Sometimes even the police need help, and that's you. I'm willing," Olivia paused, she was making sure I was still paying attention. "To let you help."

"Why should I help you?" I immediately said with a shrug of my shoulders. "When I could accomplish so much more on my own."

Olivia tilted her head up to the ceiling, deep in thought. "Well," she said looking back down at me. "If you really can accomplish as much as you think you can then you could accomplish more with our resources. I know you know a lot about who we're up against and where they could be hiding Mia."

"Alright, so if I stay will I be able to be really involved in the case? You won't just make me sit in your office twiddling my thumbs waiting for you to come back?" I asked her, my golden eyes searing into her brown ones.

"Yes Nick," Olivia chuckled. "Now go back to bed it's three in the morning." She said with a wave of her hand.

(Mia's POV)

I woke up with a muffled groan, I was in a dog crate. Tears began to stream down my face, I was claustrophobic and I hated the dog crate. I didn't have my brother to help me through it so it made everything ten times worse. Suddenly I heard footsteps coming down a set of stairs, the room was so dark I couldn't see anything. The light switch was switched on and two girls and two boys came in.

The tallest and probably oldest girl rushed over to the dog crate and reached for it.

"Max," the oldest boy with red hair and grayish blueish eyes said in a warning voice.

"Blake, come on. She's scared, if they get mad well screw them." She said unlatching the crate and pulling me out.

The girl, Max, pulled me out of the crate and onto the basement hard floor. My eyes began to swim with dizziness but after awhile I was able to see. The boy with blue eyes and blonde hair sat down next to me as I looked around at the kids with wonder and fear. "I'm Rex," he said proudly with a mischievous grin. "The grumpy one is Blake. The rebel one is Max, and the quiet one is Annie."

"It's Annabeth." Annabeth said crossing her arms. She had dark brown skin and brown hair and eyes like melted chocolate.

"Thanks for that introduction." Blake said rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"See? Told you he's grumpy." Rex said cheekily and I gave a weak smile. The only other kid I have ever known was my brother and Noah didn't really count because I barely saw him and he was a baby. "What's your name?"

"Mia Hart," I said quietly and the whole room was silent.

The boys and girls looked at one another and the at me they seemed to know me. "So that's why you were in the crate. They don't want you mixing with the likes of us since you're so high up on the food chain." Blake sneered at me.

Max hit him over the head. "Knock it off Blake," she snapped at him. "She's just a kid."

"We're all kids Maxine," he said, and Max flushed at the use of her full name. "That doesn't mean anything, what means something is that little brat has been living like a posh puppy while we're down here in a dirty basement."

"You call a dog crate posh?" I asked speaking up for myself. "You call having your brother rape you for mens pleasure posh? Well then you must be an idiot because my life has been anything but posh." I snapped out, I was irritable and whatever drug they shot me with was making me think and feel all sorts of weird things.

"You just got burned!" Rex crowed happily and Blake gave him a glare.

"Can you tell me about where I am?" I asked them and they each nodded their heads and as if they have done this many times sat down in a circle around me.


	17. Playing Detective

(Chapter 17)

(Benson's POV)

I walked into the station the next morning with Nick who was bright eyed and bushy tailed besides his very little sleep last night. I could tell he was excited about being apart of the case, I knew he was tired of sitting on the side lines but I didn't want to put him in danger. He was our only chance of finding Mia and I had promised Nick we would get his sister back so this was our only option.

I put my stuff on my desk before going into the squad room to see Rollins and Carisi were talking. I didn't know where Finn or Dodds were but I was sure they would be here.

Nick took a seat at the table calmly, he grabbed a pen and began clicking it nervously. I smiled in amusement, he had no idea what he was doing yet he wanted so bad to be involved in saving his sister. He didn't just want to sit back and let us help her because he loved his sister so much he didn't trust anyone else to do the job. It just showed me how deep Mia's and Nick's bond goes. It was probably one of strongest bonds I have ever seen. It was something that was truly special.

"Guys, Nick is going to be helping with the case now like I told you. I'm hoping to not have to take him out in the field as bait but we might not have a choice." I said talking directly to Nick who nodded his head calmly.

"I will do anything for my sister, this is for her. If it wasn't for me she wouldn't even be in this mess if it wasn't for me." He said his golden eyes looking straight into mine.

I nodded my head in agreement. "Donald and Buchanan are coming in later for another interview and-"

"Put me in there with them," Nick said interrupting me mid-sentence. "I can promise you I will get something out of him, just let me in there."

"No, absolutely not." I said looking at each one of my squad members who looked shocked Nick even suggested the idea. "You are not going to be let in with that monster, who knows what it could do to you."

"Olivia, you need to trust me on this one. I can do this." Nick said looking into my eyes. "I can get something out of him! He has to have some idea where my sister is. I can get him to tell me if I take the right amount of steps." He said.

"I say we give it a shot," Rollins piped up. "The kid might be right, he's bright he could help us with this Olivia."

"Nick, are you sure you even want to do this?" I asked him. "This could do more harm then good for the case and for you, you do realize that?" I said biting my lip.

For some reason, I felt very protective over Nick and his choice. I didn't want him to get hurt anymore then he already was getting hurt. I know with Mia being gone it was tearing him apart and we didn't need that to go on any longer.

Nick nodded his head looking me in the eyes. "Olivia, I never felt so sure of anything in my life. I am going to do anything to save my sister. Even if it means I have to do some things I should never have to do." He said getting up from the table and walking into my office.

"The kid has spunk." Carisi said with a grin.

Rollins snorted shaking her head. "Just like my cousin Beth." She said with a sigh.

"Your cousin doesn't have spunk just attitude Rollins," Finn said with a grin.

I rolled my eyes as I went into my office to talk to Nick, I was going to try to talk him out of this.

(Nick's POV)

I sat in the interrogation room when Donald sauntered in alone, without his lawyer. My eyebrows shot up in surprise, I would have expected him to come in lawyered up and ready to fight. He sat across from me with his hands folded on the table.

It took everything in me not to jump across the table and start choking him. Olivia told me the safe word to say if things got to much for me. I was hoping I wouldn't have to use it because I want to show Donald that he doesn't own me. I was my own man, and Mia soon was going to be her own woman. No one was going to own our bodies ever again.

"Hello Nicholas, aren't you looking nice." Donald said with a smirk.

"Cut the crap Donald," I snorted shaking my head. "You and I both go way back. A long time ago we agreed not to lie to each other, remember?"

Donald's eyes lit up in delight that I was playing his game. Little did Donald know that he was my pawn now to move around and play with. It was now reversed, he had no control over what was happening he only think he did. "Oh yes Nicholas I remember, I remember very well."

"Good," I said running a hand through my hair. "Glad we got that out of that way. Can you tell me if Mia's okay? You know how she gets, with the screaming and all." I said my golden eyes not leaving his gaze since I knew he liked making eye contact with me.

"What would you do for me if I told you?" Donald asked me and I smirked.

I slowly worked off my shirt, I already prepped Olivia that I was going to do that. She wasn't too keen on the idea but we needed to find my sister so I was going to do what had to be done. I could feel Donald's eyes rake my form and he licked his lips. It was all I could do not to gag, I felt disgusting putting on a show for him like this but I really had no choice. Mia was depending on me and I had to help her. She was all I had left.

"She's alright, she's safe." He said as I moved my shoulders back.

"Good to hear," I said stretching my arms above my head. "Can you give me an address?"

"I'm not stupid Nicholas, you may think you know everything about me but you do not. You are never going to find her. I don't care if Lieutenant Benson shuts down New York for days she will never find that girl." Donald said smirking.

I took a deep breath trying not to scream, I put my hands on the table. "Come on Donald, give me something more."

"Sorry, my lips are sealed." Donald said leaning back in his seat.

I exited the room putting on my shirt. I can't believe that Donald didn't walk into my trap. I mean, it could have been better but at least I even tried. I walked past Olivia who was talking on the phone fiercely with Mr. Barba. I sat down at the table when Carisi brought me a coke. "Thanks," I said with a sigh, I opened the coke and took a sip.

"No problem kid, you did good in there." He said and I smiled meekly.

"Thanks, but I didn't really get anything out of him."

"That's not true," Carisi said shaking his head. "You got out of him that she's safe and we now also know that he's apart of the whole kidnapping situation so he will be kept in a cell. You did way more for the NYPD then you realize Nick."

"Screw the NYPD and screw this," I grumbled under my breath taking another swig of my coke. "I just want to save my sister and get on with my life."

"I understand," Carisi said. "But you have to try and enjoy the ride kid. I know all of this seems awful right now but just give Olivia a chance. You never know, you might start to like her. She grows on you pretty easily."

I already did like Olivia but I wasn't going to tell him that. I simply gave him a shrug as I shook my head because my hair got into my eyes. I needed to cut my hair but I would deal with that after Mia was safe.


	18. Honey Trap

(Chapter 18)

 **Sorry it took so long for me to update!**

(Nick's POV)

I was taking matters into my own hands, it had been over a week since Mia had gone missing and who knows what hell she could be going through. I had snuck out of the precent when Olivia was out with Rollins. Finn was distracted and I easily fooled Carisi even though he's a good cop. I was making sure nothing was going to stand in the way of me getting my sister back.

I walked onto the busy New York city sidewalk and quickly jogged towards the nearest club. It was evening time and we had been logging major hours. Even with me working on the case we were barely getting anywhere so that's why I was being the bait. I knew a club not to far away from here where the trafficking ring would sometimes would set up their parties. It was a hole in the wall looking outside but on the inside it was made for a king. I was hoping my sister might be there but I doubt it, they knew I was in New York they wouldn't risk me running back to tell the cops that I knew where my sister was.

I waltzed right past the line of Johns waiting for their turn to get a glimpse of the kids what they enjoyed torturing so much. I rolled my skinny shoulders back and put on a brave face. I knew the password for tonight since I had connections with the bar tender that felt bad for me all the time. I can charm her socks off, I smirked as the burly african american bouncer, all dressed in black, cocked a dark eyebrow at me.

"Lewis," I said confidently, that was the password. It meant to me that Lewis was hosting this messed up party. I found that odd, he was usually just used as the hit man, the one who took the unlucky kids. Why the hell was he hosting this?

The bouncer gave me a weird look but let me pass regardless. I ran a hand through my hair as I walked, I was dressed in jeans and a white undershirt, I didn't want them to know I was with the NYPD. Apparently luck was on my side though because tonights event was a masquerade. I snuck around the coat lady and into a small closet that had more appropriate clothes for this party. Nothing fit me but I put something on that was a little too big for me, they were providing the masks for the Johns so I really was getting lucky tonight.

I walked out in dress pants that were a size too big and a tie and jacket that fit a little too snugly. I'm sure my sister would think I was quite a sight. I put on a black bird shaped mask and began walking around the bar. The bar was very big, it had white and red couches and love seats that matched the black and white tiled floor. The scent of cigarette and cigar smoke filled the air making my nose wrinkle at the smell even though I should be used to that smell. The lights were dimmed pretty low, while music played softly in the back round. There was also booze everywhere, it stunk.

I scanned the area looking for kids, I saw a couple faking smiles as men touched them. I didn't see Mia though, I swore under my breath. Maybe I would see her if I stuck around a little while. I had to try to fit in though, that was going to be really hard. I didn't want to fit in, I didn't want to pretend to be the thing I hated most in the world. I had to do this though because my sister was depending on me. Now I think about it, all the kids stuck in the ring were. If Mia and I could get out of their ring, the poster children of slavery, then they had hope. We were the hope of the children.

I moved forward trying to radiate the confidence all the Johns had. I closed my eyes I as I moved when I bumped into a girl without a mask, she was a slave. She was absolutely beautiful though, she had brown hair and hazel eyes that seemed to see right through me. I swallowed nervously as she turned on the charm for me, I had to act like I wanted this.

"Want to dance," she asked seductively.

I put on a smirk, I needed to practice all the acting that I have gotten over the years. "Of course," I managed to purr out. "What's your name doll?" I mentally winced at that last sentence, I was horrible at this.

"Maxine," she said in amusement as we spun around the room. I wasn't a dancer so I was following her lead. She seemed so confident that she was making it seem easy. After awhile of twirling around and me tripping over my feet she stopped us and took a very good look at me. "You know, you don't seem like a normal John."

"Really?" I asked her, I could not have her give me away. Alarm bells were going off frantically in my head telling me to abort the mission. "What makes you say that?"

"Well," she said timidly, as if knowing this wasn't territory she should venture in. "You are-"

"Not supposed to be here." A voice interrupted.

Oh shit, my cover was blown. Drake, one of the leaders of the ring, recognized me even with the mask on and everything. I turned carefully to see Drake and Lewis standing together watching me. "Whatever do you mean?" I asked, as if playing it off as if I had no idea what they were talking about.

"Come on Nicholas, let's go have a chat," Drake said and before I could react Lewis grabbed me.

The party kept going around us, the only one who stopped was Maxine. I looked back at her and she was standing there opened mouthed. I shook my head and faced forward as I was thrown into a small office. Lewis tore my mask off, his grin widening. "Well, well, my, what do we have here?" He asked.

I just stood up glaring at the both of them. I was in for a long night, and I knew once I saw Liv again, or if I ever did, she was going to kill me.


	19. Safe

**Hey, lolamay101 here! Sorry it took me forever to update! I was in the hospital for a little while and everything was just a reck! Thank you all for sticking with me and I hope you all (if you are in America) have a Happy Thanksgiving! lolamay101**

(Chapter 19)

(Benson's POV)

"Where is he?" I asked rushing into the hospital. I have only felt this scared when it was Noah who had the option of being hurt, but now I was worried about a kid I barely even knew.

Rollins turned her head over to me and pointed to one of the rooms. I rushed inside and saw a bloody and bruised boy. He was shirtless and carved on his chest was the word MINE, his face was contorted in pain as the nurses stitched him up as best as they could. I couldn't help but notice he wore a look of defeat on his face. He finally turned his attention on me after all the nurses left, his one good golden eye looking into mine. "Hey Liv," he said softly.

"Nicholas Cole Hart," I started out watching him carefully. "Please, don't ever scare me like that again."

I sat on the edge of his bed and he had a look of surprise and amusement on his face. "What? You're not going to scream at me and tell me how stupid I was?" Nick asked snarkily.

"No," I said patiently. "Because you already know how stupid you were. It wouldn't do me any good to lecture you on something that you already know. Right?" I asked in amusement.

"I guess so." Nick said with a shrug. "So what now? Do I get to go back to your place? Or do I have to stay in this godawful place?"

I snorted in laughter. "What? You don't like the hospital Nick?"

"No, of course not." Nick said shaking his head. "I might not have an education but every movie I have ever seen on crappy T.V always was a horror film about people being trapped in a hospital with some devil worshiper!" He expressed with a shudder. "It gives me the hebbie jeebies Liv."

"Yeah, well I have good news for you. The doctor says you can go home but you need to take it easy. Which means no late night adventures, no more running away, and letting me help you. Got it?" I asked him with a serious expression.

"Aye, aye Lieutenant Benson!" Nick chorused, he gave me a cheesy salute.

I rolled my eyes, now I had to rain on his parade. I felt horrible that I had to do so but I needed to know what had happened when he decided to go rouge on me. I cleared my throat before grabbing the pad and pen out of my jacket. "Alright Nick, I need to ask you some questions about what happened. It's going to help us find Mia, so I need you to answer honestly, okay?"

Nick paled but he nodded his head. "Okay Liv, but I'm only doing this for Mia."

I nodded my head. "Okay, where did you go when you tricked Carisi, who you owe an apology by the way." I said giving him a pointed look.

He just gave me an innocent smile before taking a sip of the water that the nurse left him. He then ran a hand through his hair before taking a deep breath. I could tell this was hard for him but we need to know what happened. Nick could have just made a whole trail of bread crumbs for us to follow to Mia. "Alright, so I went to this whole in the wall club at about eight o'clock while you were out with Rollins and Finn."

I recorded this information nodding my head. "Good Nick, this is good that you remember all of this. What were you doing at the club?"

Nick swallowed nervously, he took a deep breath before diving in. "I was at the club because I thought my old trafficking ring was there. I was right of course, and I was hoping Mia was there but she wasn't. I knew that she probably wasn't going to be there since she is so important to the ring but I had hope that she would be there. I think I just wanted to find her so bad I got reckless." He admitted biting his lip, his golden eyes were full of guilt.

"What was the club called?" I asked him as I wrote down everything he told me.

"Its called Club Luis, its actually pretty nice but you wouldn't know it from the outside. To be honest, the outside looks like a dump but that's because they don't want anyone who doesn't belong there to come inside." Nick said with a smirk.

"How did you get those bruises?" I asked him, my eyes looked into his with empathy. I knew what it was like to be beaten, I shook my head, now was not the time to think about that.

"Lewis and Drake found me out. They took me to the back room and tried to get information out of me but I wouldn't tell them anything. So they beat the shit out of me." Nick said shaking his head. "They tried everything as you can see." He gestured to the carving on his chest. "I passed out halfway through that. They then left me a block from the police station and with a note that said, 'stop looking for the girl, or something worse will happen'." He said shaking his head.

"Well we're not going to stop looking for Mia until she's back and safe with you." I promised him as I put my pad and paper away.

(Mia's POV)

I screamed in pain as Lewis landed another kick was landed on my side, they had been beating me for the last hour. Apparently Nick had shown up at their party and they thought I had something to do with it. As if I had a way to communicate with my brother what was going on! If I did I would be out by now and safe with Nick, Noah, Liv, and the rest of the squad.

"Enough," snapped Drake as he came down the stairs with the other kids. "Beating her is going to do nothing Lewis. I have an even better idea." He said with a sick smirk.

Drake strode forward and grabbed me by the arm and then dragged me up the stairs by my hair. Tears blurred my vision as the pain set in. He took me through the mansion and up three different sets of stairs into a little room with no windows. The room had a bed and a bathroom with cameras in four corners of the room and one right in front of the bed. My eyes widened when I realized what they wanted to do. I began to kick and scream but Drake wasn't having any of it, he chained me down to the bed. I was in an uncomfortable sitting position as I looked around the room.

The room was a pink color and had nothing that could help it be recognized by Nick or the police, for the first time I felt truly helpless. I looked at Drake who was smirking, he seemed pleased that I felt so defeated. I just wanted to go see Nick and to be safe. That's all I wanted, I didn't need a home or a mom or dad I just needed my brother and safety.

"Alright Mia, so we're going to send a little message to your brother and everyone who's out there." Drake said as he ripped off my shirt and pants leaving me only in my underwear and sports bra.

I felt tears of fear prick at my eyes, I swallowed down the lump that seemed to be stuck in my throat. I wasn't going to let them see my cry, that would just make matters work if I let that happen. I had to be strong for Nick's sake. He was counting on me to be brave and I didn't want to let the only person in my life who has ever loved me down.

"You're going to instruct your brother and his merry band of police officers to stop looking for you. You are going to tell them how much you like being a whore. Got it?" Drake snapped at me.

"Yes sir," I squeaked out, he now knew I was afraid, that was just fantastic.

"Great," Drake purred out. "Because if you don't do a good enough job there will be a punishment."

I paled and nodded my head, I really did not want to piss them off. I was already stuck in this scary room with a bunch of cameras. They can do whatever they want to me and no one would be there to stop them. I have never felt so truly helpless. I mean, I always had some hope but now there was no hope. I had no knight in shining armor to come and save me. Nick wasn't going to get me out of this one. I had to do this myself this time and if it meant playing along for a little while then so be it.

Drake pointed to me when he was ready for me to start speaking. I took a deep breath before launching into my speech. "I have a message for my brother and the NYPD." I said shakily, tears came to my eyes as I spoke I couldn't help it. It just felt like giving up even though I wasn't, I was just doing what I had to do to survive. "Stop looking for me and the other kids in the ring. We are all happy being whores, we like it." I said smiling through the tears. "Give up on your search, we're not worth your time."

Drake cut off the camera and gave me a small round of applause before leaving the room. Who knew what else he had in store for me? I shook my head, I didn't want to find out, I needed to find away to get out of here. I began tugging on my restraints but they wouldn't budge.

I tried screaming for help but it did nothing but piss Drake off. He came in with a piece of red cloth and looked at me furiously. "Just try and keep it up Mia. Soon you'll be too busy to even have the energy to scream." He snickered as he put the gag onto my mouth.

He then left me alone, he shut the door and locked it while I was left alone. I was completely powerless, I looked directly at the camera that had it's little red blinking light. I could only wonder where they were broadcasting me at, probably somewhere on the internet. There were all sorts of sites that exploited kids like me. It was so wrong, but the ring had to make money somehow and I guess I was the unlucky kid picked to do their dirty work.

I remembered when Nick and I first got into the ring, one day they came down stairs in one of the houses we were staying at, I can't remember which one, and took Nick out. Nick was gone for three days and I had no clue where he was, I cried every night non stop because I had never been separated from my brother for so long before. When he came back three days later covered in bruises and welts, he looked like he had been through hell and back.

I shook my head, I shouldn't think about what happened to Nick, I should just focus on me and what I need to do to survive. Right now I could only help myself and Nick somehow. Maybe I could find a way to drop hints to my location, if I could even find out where I was. I let out a groan of frustration. I couldn't do anything, it was official, I was stuck and going nowhere. I didn't want to be stuck in the ring for the rest of my life. I want to actually be safe for once. If only I had a way to do that.


	20. Alive

(Chapter 20)

(Nick's POV)

I was sitting on the couch with Noah when I noticed Olivia's face turned to ashen. I frowned, that wasn't a good sign. I handed Noah a toy and guided him to his room. "Stay here Noah, I need to talk to your Mommy for a minute." I said to the young boy who was busy playing with his toy plane.

I exited the room and went to where Liv was taking notes furiously. Something big must have happened for her to do that. "Liv? What's going on?" I asked her crossing my arms, I maybe only sixteen and not even a detective in training but it didn't take Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick John Watson to figure out something was going on.

"Nick, promise me you won't totally go a-wall on me like last time." Olivia said looking up at me as she clicked the space bar on her computer to pause whatever was going on, on the screen.

I frowned, it must be really serious then if she was making me promise not to go a-wall on her. Or she was just looking at history and finally realizing I was big flight risk. Either or works. "Sure Liv." I said shrugging, I mean I only keep my promises to my sister so the words I was saying were just that. Words.

Words were just empty promises of what could be. Key word, could, there is no definite in words. That's why I don't really trust them, I trust actions. A persons actions speak louder then the words that come out of their mouthes. It's easier to feed someone lies but it's harder to fool them with your actions. I have figured out how to tell when someone is lying or not, but I'm also very paranoid. The only reason I have trusted Liv so much is because she seems to know what its like to feel out of control.

"Good," Olivia said as she took off her glasses and set them on the table that held the lamp next to her. "Mia's captors have broadcasted her. They sent a message for you but I don't know if you should see it. I don't want it to set you off."

"Oh I'm watching it!" I snapped out, my golden eyes narrowing at her. "Look Liv, I know you are just trying to protect me but I'm my own man. I have had to grow up fast and there's not much I haven't seen. So let me watch the video."

Olivia looked at me for a minute, her brown eyes looked into mine with empathy and sympathy. I simply shook my head, I didn't need her to feel for me or even with me. I just needed her to help me get Mia safe so I didn't have to keep playing the ring's game. I was no longer a pawn, I was my own freaking high tech video game, at least that's what I hoped to be.

"Alright," was all that she said.

She moved to get on the couch next to me, I moved over a little bit so she had space to sit down. Olivia then backed up the video and played it from the beginning. My eyes widened as I saw my sister chained down to a bed in a pink room, she was in nothing but underwear and a sports bra. She was covered in bruises and her green eyes were full of tears that she was refusing to shed. Mia closed her eyes as she took a deep breath and began to speak. She basically said to stop looking for her and that she was happy where she was at, then the film cut to a live feed. I squeezed my eyes shut when a scene I didn't want to see came up.

Olivia quickly shut her lap top before turning to me. "I have the NYPD tracking the IP address so we hopefully get a hit on that. I also have people analyzing the room and the online chat rooms so we can hopefully find her as soon as possible. I know it may not seem like it, but it's kind of a helpful thing that they are filming her because it means she's alive."

"But it also means the ring can do whatever the hell they want to her and broadcast it out on the internet for the whole world to see!" I cried angrily, how could Olivia see the good in this?

Olivia reached out to rub my back but I flinched away from her. I still wasn't cool with people touching me, not even Olivia who has been nothing but nice to me. "Nick, I hate what they are doing to your sister but we are going to get her out of there. At least you know she's alive and breathing. Its better then the alternative, right?"

I nodded my head, Olivia was right. I couldn't even imagine finding my sister's lifeless body in a dumpster or not even finding her body. I shuddered just thinking about how I wouldn't rest until I found her killers or her body. I took a deep breath, she was alive that's what mattered right now. This was something the NYPD and I could work with.

"You're right Liv." I told her with a sigh. "But I don't have to like that you are right."

Liv laughed and smiled even though the circumstances were bleak. "Let me go get Noah and we'll have some hot chocolate, it's getting cold outside." Olivia said getting up from her spot next to me and going into the next room.

Soon enough Noah and I were sitting at the dining room table with Liv sipping steaming mugs of hot chocolate. Mia would be so jealous if she knew I got a sweet without her, I shook my head. I couldn't think about my sister right now, it was just too painful. I had to try and live in the moment because if I didn't then I would miss everything. I turned to Liv with a smile as she wiped Noah's mouth. "I've never had hot chocolate before," I informed her.

Olivia turned to me a bright smile on her face. "Well now you just did! Did you like it?" She asked me.

I nodded my head with a smile. "I did. It's very hot and sweet though. It's something Mia would like."

So much for not thinking about her. It seemed I just couldn't stop thinking about my little sister who I loved so much. Liv gave me a look of sympathy and I let her reach out and touch my hand. "It's okay Nick." She said and I didn't even realize I was crying before a tear drop landed into my hot chocolate. "It's good your crying, you've been like a stone faced solider the whole time."

"It hurts so bad," I cried out, tears rushed down my face as if someone had opened up a dam and let all the water rush out into the world.

"It's okay Nick," Noah spoke up reaching for me.

I smiled at him, I picked him up and put him on my lap. He had no understanding to what was going on and that's okay. At least he was here and safe with Olivia and me. I, for some odd reason, had grown attacked to Noah. He had become almost like my little brother. "It will be when we get Mia back," I said kissing the top of his head.


	21. Hey Sister

**Hey lolamay101 here, sorry I haven't updated in a while and this chapter is so short! I plan on updating tomorrow with a longer chapter! Thanks for the continued support! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 21)

(Nick's POV)

"Liv, you have to let me go!" I screamed at her in the squad room. My eyes were narrowed at her and all I could feel was anger. "She's my sister! I need to be there when you find her she's going to be scared and she's not going to know what to do if I'm not there. She needs me Liv." I said, my eyes were full of desperation and my head was filled with muddled thoughts.

She sighed shaking her head. "Nick it's way too dangerous, if Donald really meant what he said when he cut his deal with Barba then we could be walking into a full on war zone." Olivia said shaking her head.

I was ready to start punching things, they had found the location where my sister was but they weren't going to let me go? How fair was that? She was my sister not theirs, I needed to make sure she was alright. Especially since we've been apart so long, we've been apart for two whole weeks, we've never been separated for that amount of time before.

"Liv," Dodds interjected, he was dressed in a bullet proof vest, his badge on his waist, and a gun in his holster . "Let him come, he's going to find a way to sneak out and go with us anyway. Might as well let him stay in the car and wait for us to remove Mia from the situation."

Olivia ran a hand through her hair, it was almost like she was worried about if I was going to get hurt or not. It was almost like it would hurt her if I got hurt, I shook my head. Now I'm just imagining things. Liv is only doing her job, as soon as she finds a foster home to dump us in she will be out of Mia's and my life for good. The thought sort of hurt, I almost didn't want to mean nothing to Liv. Part of me knew I was just a number to her, but the other part of me longed for her to want me to stay.

"Please Liv." I said quieter this time. "I need to know if she's okay."

Olivia sighed, her shoulders sagging a bit as if she knew she had been beaten down. "Alright Nick, you win. You can come but you are riding with me and Dodds and you will be staying in the car. Understand me Nicholas?" Olivia asked using my full name and a no crap voice.

I gave her a big salute and straightened up. "Aye aye lieutenant! I will be good, I promise." I said honestly.

"Good, and you are wearing a vest. I'm not taking any risks." Olivia said before turning to Dodds. "Can you get him a vest please?"

"Sure thing lieutenant." He said with a nod of his head. "Come on kid." Dodds said to me as he turned to get me suited up.

I followed him silently, I can't believe he actually helped me convince Liv to let me go. I couldn't help but feel giddy inside at the thought of saving my sister from the hell she had been put through. I put on the vest silently but I did give him a nod of thanks as we headed out to the cars.

There were all these police units following us, apparently the location was an hour away and once we got there it was going to be really dangerous. This was going to be the longest hour of my life, I could already tell.

It seemed like the car wanted to go really slow. It felt like we barely even moved for forty five minutest but soon enough we got to the location. It was in a remote area surrounded by woods with a large mansion in front. Outside the sun was just about to set making the sky blood red.

Olivia turned to me as she started to get out of the car. "You're staying here, do you understand?"

"I know Olivia, I understand," I said trying to resist the urge of rolling my eyes at her.

(Mia's POV)

After a few days stuck in that room with all sorts of horrible things being done to me I was back with the other kids. The oldest girl, Maxine, was helping me dress my wounds. When all of a sudden a mob of people with guns barged in.

I quickly scrambled against the wall, while Maxine stood to face them. I could feel my heart pumping quickly in my chest and blood roaring in my ears. I didn't even realize it but I was screaming bloody murder. I didn't realize I was crying either until tears started to hit my bandages and sports bra.

"Mia," a familiar voice said, I turned to see Olivia Benson. "It's okay." She said approaching me with careful steps.

"Liv?" I asked softly. "Is that really you?"

(Nick's POV)

I waited anxiously for Mia, I had watched the officers arrest all the men inside. I watched as a girl with dark brown hair and pretty brown eyes came out, that wasn't my sister. She was too old and looked nothing like her, then came out a couple boys and one other girl.

I started to get a sinking feeling in my stomach, could she not be alive? No, I couldn't think like that. She had to be alive, she was my warrior sister, my partner in crime, she couldn't be dead. I waited while biting my nails for my sister to make her appearance.

All of a sudden I saw a familiar girl with black hair and green eyes, her eyes were dull but at least they lit up when they saw me. "Nick!" She screamed running at me.

I started crying as I hugged her tightly to my chest. I never wanted to let her go, she was too special to me. "Hey Mia," I whispered in her ear with a smile as tears rolled down my face.


	22. Pest

(Chapter 22)

(Nick's POV)

We rode to the police station after Mia and the other kids were checked out by the doctors. Mia and I sat together in the back seat, it turns out her arm was broken and she didn't even know it. She got a blue cast because that was her favorite color apparently, I thought it was a green but apparently I was wrong. She seemed to be on edge though she was safe now.

"You okay?" I whispered to her, I wasn't sure if she wanted Liv and Dodds hearing me ask her that.

Mia looked over to me with a roll of her eyes. "Do you think I'm okay?" She questioned me with a frown on her face. "Of course I'm not okay, for three weeks I was tortured with a bunch of other kids. I had to listen to them screaming at night you know? Do you know how scary that is?"

"Yes." I said to her flatly, I knew she was freaked but I had to listen to the same thing when she was the one being hurt at night. "I was forced to listen to your screams all the time, and I can tell you this for sure. Nothing is more terrifying then listening to your own sister's scream."

She turned away from me with a sigh, I watched as she stared out the window with a worn gaze. She was so jumpy and sensitive, that was not the Mia I remembered. I shook my head as I turned away from her, I needed to focus on helping her recover not how she was. After what happened to her, I don't imagine she will ever be the same.

We arrived at the prescient when this mob of reporters swarmed the car. Mia's body came up against mine as she backed away from the windows. I guess the press found out about what happened. I wrapped an arm protectively around my sister, I would fight every reporter here if I had to if it would make her feel more comfortable.

Olivia turned back and looked at me. "Okay Nick, here's the plan. I'm going to lead you guys in while standing beside Mia and Dodds is going to protect you from the other side. Alright?" She asked me.

"I don't really care how you protect us." I said with a humorless laugh. "Just get us to safety."

"We will." Olivia promised me as she opened her car door. The loud voices of the press filled the air as Olivia opened the door for us. I went out first holding my sisters hands.

"Mia, Mia." One of the reporters said, my sisters green eyes grew wide at the reporter knowing her name. "Is it true your brother raped you."

I felt a cold anger roll into my soul, I wasn't going to let them talk to my sister that way. "Back the hell off before I knock you all out." I screamed in their faces. That didn't do much, a male reporter got right in my face with a camera.

I swung at the reporter right when I heard Olivia shout my name. The reporter fell into the camera man who fell over. The reporter tried to get back on his feet but I was punching and kicking him left and right. It was like there was no one else around but me and him. "You. Get. Out. Of. My. Face!" I screamed and with each word I punched him a bit harder in the face until he was a bloody mess.

It took four of the strongest police officers in the area to get me off the guy and and force me inside. I was screaming and cursing as they put me in an interrogation room with handcuffs on. "I know you can hear me!" I screamed at the glass that reflected my face. "If you harm my sister I will send you all to hell!"

A little while later, after I calmed down a fraction, Olivia came in with the pretty older girl I saw and Mia. Mia was clinging to the older girls hand like it was life itself. "I thought you said you were going to get us to safety?" I snapped at Olivia.

"Nick, we did keep you safe. You freaked out because a few reporters got in your face." Olivia said as she came behind me and undid my hand cuffs.

"I was protecting Mia from their stupid questions that were more hurtful then helpful by any means." I said rolling my eyes.

I looked over at the pretty girl who was surpassing a smile while Mia was now rolling her eyes at me. She smiled though and went over and hugged me again. "Thank you for protecting me," she said looking up at me with her green eyes full of relief.

I gave Olivia a pointed look but she just rolled her eyes. "Mia, why don't you introduce Nick to your friend here."

"Oh!" Mia said with a grin. "Nick this is Maxine, Maxine this is Nick. Maxine tried to take care of me while we were in that god awful mansion with a bunch of characters from looney tunes."

I rolled my eyes and snorted a laugh at my sister's sarcasm. "I didn't think you knew what looney tunes was." I then turned to Maxine, the pretty girl with the really pretty brown eyes. "Thank you for taking care of my sister. I hope she wasn't too much of a pest." I teased Mia.

"I am not a pest!" She said waving her broken arm and then wincing at the feeling.

I snorted a laugh. "You are a pest, and don't wave your arm around like a maniac or otherwise your going to have to be in that cast longer."

Mia groaned and I heard Maxine laugh, like everything about her, she had a pretty laugh. It was like hearing tiny bells ringing. "It was really no problem, she's a good kid." Maxine said and Mia beamed happily.

"Did you hear that Nick? Did you? She said I was a good kid." Mia said smugly.

"Just don't let it go to your head." I said winking at Maxine who blushed.

"Nick and Mia, stop bickering. You haven't even been around each other for a whole day and you're already arguing." Olivia said shaking her head. She then turned to all of us. "Come on, let's get you guys in my office. Carisi, Rollins, and Finn are going to take your statements. I need to talk to an old...friend."


	23. My Old Friend

**Hey lolamay101 here, so WARNING! THIS HAS M RATED STUFF IN NICK'S POV. Nick's POV has been the most gruesome thing I have written but I thought I should give you guys some insight on what they go through. Thank you for reviewing and subscribing! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 23)

(Benson's POV)

I arrived to Rikers Island with a sigh, this was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done. I was facing the man that started it all, the one that had taken so much from me. I couldn't believe I told Nick and Mia that, that man was an old friend, I just didn't want to concern them with my problems. They already had enough to worry about, they didn't need any more stress.

I got out of the car and entered the prison alone, with only my badge, I had to put my gun with the people up front. I turned the corner and entered the visitation room where that evil son of a bitch was waiting for me. His lips quirked up into a smile which made his scar fold up into an hideous look.

"Ain't we go fun," he sang under his breath with an innocent smile.

It took all my will power not to shudder at the sound of that song. I hated that song with a passion, it was the song he sang when he kidnapped me. It was on a loop nonstop, it seemed like he never got tired of hearing the sound of his own voice. I took a seat across from him silently staring him down. I pulled out a file from my coat and laid it open in front of him. I took a deep breath as I spoke,"why?"

"Why what Olivia?" He asked me, he didn't even look at the file. He was just trying to get a rise out of me but I knew not to let him. He was sadistic and thrived off of fear, I needed him to know that I wasn't going to let him get to me. Not this time, not after what he had done to Nick and Mia.

"Why did you suddenly change your taste from innocent women to poor innocent children?" I asked him, I pointed to Nick's foster care picture, it was of him when he was around six years old.

"Well my sweet Olivia, it was all apart of my plan to get to you of course." He said with an evil smirk upon his face. "We had so much fun together I wanted to make it last just a little bit longer. It took years but I was finally going to get my hands on your pretty face and I still am. Just you wait." He said with a laugh of satisfaction.

I ignored the knot that formed in my stomach, it made me want to throw up but I had a job to do, I had to get justice for those who couldn't get justice themselves. I needed to help Nick and Mia find peace and to find a way to move on from all the horrible things they had experienced. I had to be strong for the two kids who had suffered so much of their lives.

"Why did you focus on these two kids specifically?" I asked him, and his eyes lit up in understanding.

"Ah, so that's why you're here. You're not here just to visit me, I guess a guy can dream." He sighed with a smirk.

"Answer the question Lewis, this is the deal you made with the ADA so you won't get the death penalty." I sighed shaking my head, he should have gotten it but we didn't know what other lives were at steak, so we needed to know everything we could about the ring. The best way to find information about something was to start at the heart, and that was Nick and Mia.

"I was getting there Olivia, so impatient." He tutted. "These two were the only ones in the ring that were sold through the foster care system. The others we got ahold from missing persons cases. I knew the quickest way to get to you was through the foster care system, since you got little baby Noah from there."

I tensed up, he wasn't going to touch my baby. "What do you know about Noah?" I growled at him.

Lewis looked delighted that I was interested in his game, I wasn't though. I was interested in Noah's well being. If he was going after my Noah then I needed to find a way to protect him.

(Nick's POV)

"On the floor Nicholas or the bullet goes through dear Mia's head." The ring leader of the nearby trafficking ring yelled.

Apparently there was a price on Mia's, Noah's, and my head. The ring leader had already killed the three officers that were outside Liv's apartment to protect us, they killed them without a sound too. I had no clue how they did it, my only concern was protecting Mia. I knew the other kids were safe at the station but Liv wanted us to get some rest so she sent us to her apartment. Little did we know this was going to happen. We could never catch a break could we?

I slowly lowered myself to the floor, I felt one of the ring's goons step over me and forcefully grab my arms. They handcuffed my hands together as tight as they could without cutting off my circulation. I looked over at Mia who was trying not to scream as she shielded Noah from the scene. Noah had really no idea what was going on and we wanted to keep it that way, he didn't need to be exposed to the ring's brutality at such a young age.

I looked up at the ring's leader, he had dark brown skin and blue eyes, he seemed ready to shoot at us any moment. He was after us for the money not because he wanted to use our bodies, he was into older teenagers, so Noah and Mia weren't at risk, I was though. "Take them into the other room." The ring leader barked at his two goons. "I want some alone time with this one."

I watched as Mia began to herd Noah into the other room, I could tell she was trying to be my brave girl. I turned to the ring leader who introduced himself to me as Sam, he put away the gun. "You have me alone, now what?" I asked him with a humorless laugh.

He grabbed the duct tape he put on the table and duct taped my mouth shut. "Now you shut up, we're going to have a great time together." He said as he went into the kitchen, I heard him turn on the stove and cursed under my breath. I knew what was coming and I was going to hate every minute of what was about to happen.

I walked over to the window and tried to break it open but Sam was one step ahead of me. He came out of nowhere and flung me across the room like I weighed nothing. I groaned in pain as I hit the wall. "Where do you think you're going? William Lewis said he'd let me have my way with you and pay me the full amount." He said straddling my backside. He pulled my head up by my hair, I groaned in pain at the feeling of the sharp tug of my hair. "Imagine that."

Of course William Lewis was behind this, he was just trying to get to Liv. I hope she didn't fall for it or else we could die. I shook my head at the thought, I couldn't have that attitude or otherwise it would come true and I really did not want that to happen. I actually liked being alive when I wasn't in this mess .

Sam dragged me into the kitchen, he sat me down in a chair, he pulled off my shirt despite my protests and kicking. He then fixed my handcuffs so I was handcuffed to the chair. Sam then logged into his phone and put on Lewis's signature song. It made me sick to my stomach hearing that song. He then turned to me with a big smile on his face as he grabbed Olivia's house keys and put them in the pan. I heard the horrifying sound of the sizzle and I screamed into the tape.

Sam just hummed along with the song as he grabbed a key using tongs from the kitchen he then walked over to me slowly. Each step was agony for me to hear. "I want to hear you scream Nicky, let's see how loud you can get." Sam said ripping the tape off of my mouth.

He then put the burning hot key onto my chest right below my nipples. I screamed and swore in pain as he held it there for what felt like eternity when in reality it was only about thirty seconds.

Sam's pupils dilated at the sound of my screams. This little torture session was turning him on for some reason. I didn't get how you could get joy out of torturing kids. It just seemed so wrong on so many levels.

He then undid my pants and slid them to my knees, leaving me in just underwear. He then pressed the burning hot key towards my private parts. I screamed and yelled as he held it there, he just laughed though. He laughed like it was the best sound he had ever heard. "Hang on Nicky, I'll be right back." He snickered leaving me crying in pain.

A few moments later he came back with my little sister but without Noah. That gave me some relief knowing at least one child wasn't going to be harmed. "Alright whore," he said addressing my sister. "I want you to make out with him."

"Don't you talk to my sister that way!" I screamed at him, he was not going to call my sister names or tell her what to do. We were done with that stupid way of life.

"Hush Nicholas, or darling little Mia, get's a burn mark just like her stupid ass brother." Sam roared at me as he hit Mia with the butt of his gun.

Mia fell to the floor with a whimper and all I could do was stay silent. I couldn't do anything to protect her without making things worse for the both of us. So I just sat there like I always do.

She slowly got up at Sam's command. She went over to me full on sobbing as she sat on my lap. She then reached up and began to kiss me. I recuperated of course, knowing full well what would happen if I didn't. I felt completely disgusting as I kissed her, she moved her lips to my chest at the command of Sam. "Now Nicky," he said addressing me. "Buck your hips into her. And if you do a good enough job I won't make you fuck her."

I began to sob as well as I did as told, I bucked my hips hard into Mia who winced in pain at the impact of my hips on her. I felt horrible for doing what I did but I was just trying to survive and keep my sister alive.

Soon enough he got bored and made Mia undress down to her bra and panties, he then made her sit on my lap as I kissed her neck while he held us at gun point. Mia was crying and I was crying but did he care? No, they never cared about us, and to be honest this was some of the least exposing things we have been forced to do. I have been forced to do a lot worse and so has Mia, it's just when we had to do it to each other is when things got rough.

"Get dressed whore." Sam said throwing Mia's clothes at her. "And go be a good little girl and please my men while I deal with your brother. He's had this coming for a long time." He said with a smirk.


	24. Guardian Angel

(Chapter 24)

(Benson's POV)

"What's our status?" I asked ESU's captain as they surrounded the building. The guys Lewis sent after my Noah and the Hart siblings were good. As soon as they realized cops were around the pointed a gun to Nick's head and made him hold up a sign that said, 'If you want to see me again then don't come in, leave ten million in cash, and me, the little boy, and my sister will live.'

"We have the snipers in place and the whole area surrounded, when we have a good angle we will shoot them down." The ESU captain informed me.

I shook my head. "Give us time to talk them out, they are wanted for something bigger then just holding hostages," I said to the captain as calmly as I could.

I felt sick to my stomach thinking about Nick, Mia, and Noah in that apartment, Noah must be so scared. I hoped I could get to him before something bad happened. I walked over to the phone and began to dial into my home phone. I was going to talk these idiots down from hurting my kids.

I waited patiently for the line to click into place, it did after the fifth ring. "What do you want?" A voice barked into the phone, it wasn't any of the kids. It was masculine and very deep.

"Hi, I'm Lieutenant Benson." I introduced myself. "I'm here to help the situation to get those kids out safely. You want that don't you?"

The man on the phone paused to yell at one of the kids. I winced when I heard the sound of breaking glass, I hoped everyone was okay. "I just want my money and I want these cops gone, the snipers, everything! Do you understand? Or I will put a bullet through Nicky's head." He screamed into the phone.

I mentally took a deep breath, I needed to be calm and I needed to talk him out of this. "Okay," I started out. "Well, we can do all of these things if you let me come in there. I can get everything you want if you let me come in. I will tell all of the snipers and police to stand down and I will send one of my detectives to the bank. Can I get a name from you so we can make sure we get the money to the right person?"

"You can come in, but you don't bring any weapons and you come alone." He barked into the phone. "And you can call me Sam."

"Alright Sam." I said, Dodds, who was beside me, wrote the name down. "I'm going to come up in five minutest, and I will come alone without any weapons, just like you said."

"Good," Sam said before hanging up, it seemed like he was anxious to get his money and then get out.

I looked over at Dodds who was frowning, his brow creasing. "Olivia, be careful." He said softly.

"I will be, don't worry." I said as I handed him my gun. I walked into my apartment building past ESU.

I was dressed in a bullet proof vest and my hair was down, luckily I had the vest under my pant suit, I didn't want to alarm them with the bullet proof vest. I ran a hand through my brown hair as I took the elevator up to my apartment. I prayed that all the kids were still alive, luckily I was going to be in the room to protect them. I walked off the elevator and onto my floor. I walked quietly to my apartment and knocked on the door. "Sam, it's lieutenant Benson." I said through the door.

"Open it up," Sam barked at someone. I felt bad for whoever he was yelling at. Nick opened it in nothing but boxers, he did not look happy. I gave him a small smile to reassure him everything was going to be okay as I stepped in. "Search her!"

Nick muttered something under his breath as he, police style, made me put my hands up against the wall and felt me down to see if I was carrying a weapon. I just had my cell phone in my pocket which he took out and gave to Sam. "Now get back into the kitchen whore." He barked at the boy who jumped. "If you're not in that chair when I get in there, you will feel real pain."

Nick rolled his eyes which made Sam swing the butt of his gun at him. Nick went down with a yell and I saw some blood coming out from the back of his head. "Sam, wait a minute, he's really hurt now," I said looking at Nick in concern, I tried to ignore the burn marks all over his chest and back.

"Shut up! You don't know what this brat has put me through!" Sam roared and grabbed Nick by his hair. "If you so much as look at me wrong I will do your sister." He said.

Nick paled and nodded his head in pain. Sam let him go and Nick scrambled into the next room, he seemed to finally take him seriously. I knew when it came to Mia, Nick would do anything to protect his little sister from the harshness of their lives.

"Now that your in here, tell your coppers to back off!" Sam growled at me before shoving my phone in my hand. "Make sure it's on speaker."

I dialed Dodds number and put it on speaker. "Hello? Liv?" Dodds voice came into the phone and filled the silent room.

"Dodds, everything is fine, Sam has Nick, Mia, and Noah alive," I said looking at Sam for conformation, he nodded his head. "I need you to tell ESU and everyone to stand down."

"But Liv-" Dodds started but I interrupted him.

"No buts Dodds, please get this going and get him his money from-"

"From The National City Bank on 31st street." Sam barked into the phone.

I mentally counted to ten, I needed to be patient with Sam. He wasn't the brightest luckily, he might know how to hide from ESU but he wasn't smart enough to out smart me and my team. I was going to get my kids out of here alive. After talking to Dodds for another minute Sam ended the call. I turned to Sam who was about to go into the kitchen.

"Sam, I need to check if Mia, Noah, and Nick are okay, there are some people really worried about them." I said to him in the calmest voice I could muster.

"You have seen Nick, he's fine!" Sam snapped at me. "You can go see the other two brats."

"Thank you Sam," I said in relief.

I walked through the apartment to where I heard crying, Mia was sitting without any clothes on sobbing. While Noah was on his bed, they were alone, I thought there were three perps. I had no clue where the other two went but that didn't matter at the moment, I needed to take care of Mia.

"Mia, honey," I said enveloping her into my arms, she sobbed into me. I held her close to me and gently rocked her.

"Liv...they...they..." She sobbed into my arms loudly. "They...said they wouldn't but they did!"

"I know honey, it's going to be okay." I said pulling out one of Noah's drawers and luckily there were one of Tucker's old shirts.

I held it out to Mia who took it and put it on. "Thank you Olivia." She said and her eyes widened.

"Who the hell are you?" A voice breathed into my ear.


	25. You're Safe

(Chapter 25)

(Mia's POV)

I watched through fearful eyes as Olivia slowly turned to the voice that had spoken to her. It belonged to a young man about twenty years old I would guess, he had dark skin and dark eyes that were really scary. He was one of the guys who raped me today, I trembled as I watched him through my green eyes. I didn't want to get near him, luckily Olivia had given me a shirt that hung off me like a dress so I wasn't completely undressed.

"Mommy!" Noah called running to Olivia when he saw the man.

Olivia's eyes softened as she picked him up and held him in her arms as she turned to face the man. "I'm Lieutenant Benson, I'm the police officer your boss let in. I'm also Noah's Mom."

"Oh," the man said watching her through narrowed eyes. "Well you can take the boy and get out. We don't need him." He said with a nod of his head.

"Thank you," She said in relief. "And what's your name, so I can tell ESU who to thank for saving this little boy's life."

"Christopher Banks." Christopher said with a big smile. "The girl though, I think I might keep her for a little longer."

I whimpered in fear but Olivia took my hand. "Well Christopher, you know...there's a lot of people worried about this little girl. Do you think maybe, just maybe, if you let me take her then I can get all of the police to go."

I looked at Olivia with wide eyes, what about Nick? I wouldn't, no couldn't leave Nick. I had been through everything with my brother and that wasn't going to change. I might be scared but I needed to brave for Nick. I was going to get him out of here with me, I knew that's not what he would want. He would want me to get to safety and not worry about him. I wouldn't do that though, I wouldn't just abandon him to the has happened to us way too many times. I wasn't going to be the sister who just left her brother.

"Go Olivia, take Noah and get the hell out of here." I said to her with the most serious expression I could muster.

"Mia-" Olivia started but I cut her off. "No." I said.

"I'm not leaving my brother here with these people!" I said gesturing to Christopher who was smirking slightly. "So go Olivia, find a way to get us out of here or find a way to kill us."

Olivia looked at me in shocked, she slowly processed this and then nodded her head. "Alright," she said nodding her head before turning to Christopher. "That was very good of you Christopher. I'm going to take Noah away now, alright?"

(Nick's POV)

I was bound to the chair for five hours straight until ESU finally shot down the people inside. Olivia had gotten Noah out of there but she couldn't get me and Mia out before some stuff went down. I wanted to plug my ears when I heard Mia's screams but I didn't get the opportunity to.

ESU rushed in and untied my hands, Finn was waiting for me with some clean clothes. He took me into Noah's room where Mia had been, she was no longer there though. I frowned in concern, I wanted to see my sister. "Where's Mia," I asked Finn.

He simply shook his head and gave me a bundle of clothes. "Get dressed."

"But where's my sister? You have her right?" I asked him with panic in my golden eyes.

What if they had taken her again? What if she was...no. I couldn't think like that, thinking negatively will only make things worse. I needed to think positively for Mia's sake. She was all I had left and I needed to make sure she survived for as long as possible.

"She's at the hospital getting a rape kit done, after you get dressed I'll take you there as well." Finn told me as he ushered me into the next room.

I could tell there was something he was not telling me but I wasn't going to push the situation. I sighed as I put on my clothes, I winced as the fabric rubbed the burned marks. I should probably get those checked out, hopefully they wouldn't scar. I really didn't want anymore of those, I have so many.

I went out of the room after I got dressed and Finn ushered me outside where a mob of reporters were waiting. They were shouting out my name and trying to get in my face but I did my best to ignore them, I couldn't focus on them right now. What was important was getting to my sister and making sure she was okay, then I could move on to the annoying problem of the reporters. If I needed to, I would have beat another reporter up. That would teach them to leave us alone.

Finn quickly drove to the nearest hospital where Mia was. I didn't get to see her at first though, despite my protests, the doctor wanted to check my injuries and do a rape kit even though I wasn't the one that had been raped. I fought the doctor on everything, it got to the point to where Finn had to raise his voice at me telling me 'this was important' and yada yada.

Finally the doctor finished and left me with Finn. I turned to him, he had his arms crossed and was looking at me with a look of annoyance. I didn't care. "Can I see my sister now? Can I see Liv?" I asked him.

"Yes," he said waiting for me to get off the table.

I got off and followed him down the many halls to where my sister had a room in the hospital, she must have been banged up pretty bad, I frowned softly. I took a deep breath as I opened the door. Inside there was a hospital bed and on it was my sister. She looked like she had been through hell and back. Her whole face was bruised, she had cuts all over her arms that were very deep. She looked miserable.

When I came in, her eyes lit up though, like they always do. "Nick!" She said grinning at me.

I ran to her bed side and threw my arms around her. "I'm here," I whispered in her ear. "We're going to be okay, we're always okay."

"I know," she whispered back as she let me go with a giggle.

For someone as beat up as she was and had been through as much as she had today, she seemed in a good mood. "What's up with you smiley," I asked her ruffling her hair.

She grinned and looked over at Liv who was leaning on the wall with a small smile on her face. "Can I tell him Liv? Can I? Can I please?" She asked excitedly.

Liv laughed and nodded her head. "Go ahead Mia."

"Olivia called the court and social services who deals with our foster care cases and she had taken the test for being a foster parent...so she's going to foster us!" Mia said excitedly.


	26. Where You Belong

(Chapter 26)

(Nick's POV)

The words that came out of my sisters mouth were slowly sinking in. Olivia Benson was going to be our foster mother? Why? Why would she take in two kids she barely knew and had given her so much trouble? Why would she want us when she knew how damaged we were? Why wouldn't she want a baby? That's what most foster parents wanted, they don't want kids my age or Mia's age they wanted babies. I just had to wonder what made us so different that Liv would want to take us in. I shook my head, I was completely surprised and very thankful, I knew now just to take good things as they come but my curiosity got the best of me.

I looked at Olivia who was stone faced, if she was nervous for my reaction she sure didn't show it. Stupid detective skills. "Why?" I asked her softly. "Why are you taking us in, when we're so...so damaged?"

"Nick," Mia hissed at me in anger, she didn't want me to mess this up. I understood that, but I needed to make sure this was the best situation for Mia and I.

"It's alright Mia," Olivia said getting off the wall and walking over to me. "It's perfectly fine to ask that question." She said as she gently pushed my shoulders so I was sitting on the hospital bed where my sister was laying.

She dragged a chair over and sat in front of us. "I chose to foster you, because I have realized how special your trust is," she said looking each one of us in the eye as she said that. "I like to think you have given it to me, and to Noah," she said with a smile. Finn had told me Noah was with his baby sitter while Olivia was here with us. "And I want to give you a home that you deserve, because you don't deserve some crappy foster home where they don't take care of you. And you guys don't deserve to be separated. The bond between you two, it's something so strong, it's even stronger then true love because it's a brotherly sisterly bond. This bond you two have is something special and it deserves to be protected," she explained as she took her hair out of her eyes. "And I want to help you guys protect it."

I sat there taking all of this in, this woman wants to take care of us. I didn't have to do all the work anymore...it was a weird realization for me. I had been the only parental figure Mia has ever known, I was the one who always took care of her. Hell, I have practically raised her. Sure, we didn't have the best manners, and maybe we were really rough around the edges but for a sixteen year old boy I think I did one hell of a job. She had turned out with good morals and she had hope. That's everything I wanted for Mia.

I turned to Liv who was awaiting my reaction patiently and as was Mia. I looked into Liv's eyes and a smile reached my face. "Thank you." I said to her as I watched her. "Thank you so much, we already owe you so much. You have saved our lives so many times...we owe everything to you."

Olivia smiled and shook her head. "You don't owe me anything, it's my job to protect you guys. So are you going to let me foster you two?" She asked us.

I looked at Mia who gave me a grin and at the time we said, "yes."

"Let me call Lucy so she can bring Noah up to see you guys, he's going to be so excited to have more people to play with," she grinned at us as she exited the room.

I watched my little sister as she yawned. "You should probably get some sleep," I said smoothing out the hair that was sticking to her forehead.

"But I'm not tired." Mia lied with a grin, I gave her a look and she sighed. "Okay...maybe I'm a little tired but I want to see Noah! Can you believe he's going to be our foster brother?! This is so awesome Nick! We've finally gotten a good foster home for once. Olivia would never send us away or sell us to bad people, she's going to take good care of us, right Nick?" Mia asked looking for my approval with her eyes as round as saucers.

"Mia, you know Liv, she's going to take great care of us. We're finally going to be safe and when we testify against the people who did this to us, she will keep us safe." I said to her calmly.

Mia nodded her head eagerly. "Yeah, I'm not afraid to tell our story anymore. We need people to know what these people did to us. I want to tell Olivia all we know about the ring, even the stuff we have been holding back," she said excitedly.

"Mia, slow down." I laughed shaking my head. "Take this one step at a time, you need to first get well and then we'll worry about testifying, alright?" I asked her with a smile at her eagerness.

She nodded her head with a determined look on her face. "Is there a way to get well faster than this?" Mia asked me with an innocent grin.

"I'm afraid not," I said with a sigh. "What's important is that you get lots of rest and you relax. That means no bouncing off the walls, and doing what the doctors say. Don't piss the doctor off like I did." I instructed her.

She crossed her arms and gave me a look, now it was her turn to play parent. "What did you do to the poor doctor?" She asked me trying to keep a serious look on her face but I could see she was having a hard time keeping it.

"Nothing! I just didn't want to do the sh-stuff she was making me do." I said thinking of my language. If I was going to live with Noah, Mia, and Liv I needed to watch my mouth. I didn't want Noah going to preschool saying the stuff I said, Liv would kill me, I thought with a chuckle.


	27. The Dusk Before The Dawn

(Chapter 27)

(Nick's POV)

Mia was so excited, we were moving in with Liv today. I had stayed with an officer for a full week at the hospital with Mia while she healed and got stronger. The only time I was pulled away is when Liv made me talk to this therapist dude. We didn't do much talking, just a lot of staring at each other. He tries to start conversation but I don't say anything, there was nothing he needed to know. He would probably find out anyway from the press and everything but I wasn't going to march around shouting I'm a freak on every street corner of New York.

Mia and I walked with Liv and Noah to her car. Liv buckled Noah in his car seat ingot in the back with Noah while I sat up front with Liv. I looked out the window at New York City as Liv drove us to her apartment, everything seemed sort of different...I didn't know why but it did. Everything seemed brighter, like there was a light at the end of the tunnel. I couldn't help but smile at that thought.

We soon reached Olivia's apartment, we had to go around the back of it because the front was filled to the brim with reporters. I got out of the car and opened up the door for Mia while Liv helped Noah out of his car seat. Mia and Noah walked in the middle while Olivia was in front and I was in back. We just did this formation automatically, I'm pretty sure we all had our guards up just in case something went down. Lewis may still be in Rikers with the rest of the ring but that didn't mean that something bad couldn't happen.

I pushed the button on the elevator and we all got into it. The ride up to Liv's apartment was silent. I think we were all just holding out breaths and praying we would reach there all in one piece. The elevator soon dinged and we all tumbled out. Olivia unlocked her apartment, the lights were off.

All of a sudden they flicked on and Mr. Barba, Amanda, Finn, Carasi and Dodds all shouted surprise. There was a banner up above the kitchen table that read; WELCOME HOME NICK AND MIA. There was also a purple table cloth and green plates. Mia's and my favorite colors.

I looked to my sister who had a smile upon her face that showed all of her teeth and she was loving the attention she was getting. It was positive and safe attention for once though, so that was especially nice. I was glad too, I was really happy that they cared enough about us to do this.

I turned to Liv who had her phone out and was snapping a picture of us. "Did you know about this?" I asked her looking around with my golden eyes.

"Of course I did! And so did Noah, he's good at keeping secrets though." Olivia said ruffling her son's hair.

"It's about time you decided to foster them, I thought I was going to have to spell it out to you." Finn said with a smile to Olivia.

Olivia rolled her eyes teasingly. "Well I had to get them to trust me first." She said wrapping an arm around Mia's shoulders. Surprisingly, my little sister didn't flinch.

There was a knock on the door. "That must be Munch." Olivia said going to the door.

"Munch is here?" Finn asked her with a grin. "I didn't know he got out of the house anymore."

"Who's Munch?" Mia and I asked at the same time.

A tall man with grey hair walked with Olivia into the kitchen where we all were. "Well I have to find some adventure in retirement." The man who must be Munch said.

Mia stood behind me shyly, she wasn't too great at meeting new people especially when they were men. Munch turned to us and smiled gently, he seemed harmless but looks could by deceiving. "You must be Nick," Munch said holding out his hand for me to shake. "I'm John Munch."

I shook his hand cautiously. "Nicholas Hart, the one hiding behind me is Mia." I said and Mia shoved past me when she realized when we weren't in any danger.

That earned some chuckles from the adults as Munch shook hands with Carsi and gave Amanda and Finn a hug. "Is Cragean coming?" Munch asked as he turned to Olivia.

"Who's Cragean?" Mia interjected before Olivia could answer.

"Cragean is the former Captain of SVU and Munch here is the former sergeant." Olivia explained to his patiently. "And to answer your question Munch, he can't make it. He's on some cruise I think."

Munch shook his head making a tsk noise with his tongue. "He's making friends with those ladies." He said with a grin.

I left the adults talking with Mia and Noah as I went over and sat on the living room couch. How lucky was I? I finally have everything I ever wanted but it seemed bitter sweet. One, I wasn't actually Olivia's kid, and two I was afraid Mia would no longer need me. That would seriously break my heart the day she no longer needed me. Mia was the most important person in my life. If I wanted anyone to depend on me forever, it was her.

Mr. Barba came out and sat on the couch with me. "Not much of a party person?" He asked me as he took a sip out of his wine glass.

I shook my head softly. "No, not really. The ring kind of ruined parties for me. I'm glad Mia's having fun though."

"I'm not much of a party person either." Mr. Barba said honestly. "I only came because Olivia asked me to and it had to do with you guys. You and Mia have both seemed to worm your guys way into all of our hearts."

I laughed and smiled. "Yeah we're pretty good at that."

Mr. Barba chuckled in his own amusement. "Good, I'm hoping you two will worm your way into the jury's heart too. That is, if you're both still willing to testify?" He asked looking me in the eyes.

I laughed and nodded my head. "The first thing Mia said to me when I saw her at the hospital is that she wanted to put all of the rings members away for life. So we are more then willing to testify."

"Good." Mr. Barba said with a nod of his head, he seemed relieved at that. "Well have fun and get some rest, because tomorrow is when the fight begins."


	28. Nice To Meet You

**Sorry it took me so long to update! Life has picked up speed for me, next chapter will be longer I swear! Also please join my forum! It has SVU and a few other fandoms in it! Here's the link:**

 **forum/New-York-City/199866/**

 **Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 28)

(Nick's POV)

I was sitting on the witness stand, it was my eighth time to testify and hopefully the last time. This was supposed to be the last trial, it was against William Lewis who was representing himself. I looked him in the eye, he had torn into my sister and I was going to get revenge. I didn't care what Barba said, he had crossed the line when he messed with my sister.

Lewis limped up to me, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at his over dramatic limp. He claimed at the beginning of the trial that he was still so weak from the beating Liv gave him all those years ago. Liv hadn't told us much about her and Lewis but I knew he did something horrible to her. I wasn't one to pry though, and not when she has done so much for us. I owed it to her not to get into her personal life.

"So Mr. Hart, can I call you Nicholas?" Lewis asked me with a slight smirk on his face.

I scowled but nodded my head, I didn't want him to call me Nick. My sister and Liv called me that. He wasn't worth it to me for him to call me Nick.

"Great, now onto the questions," he said with a slight smirk. "Did I ever harm you in anyway?"

"Yes," I said patiently, he had asked Mia the same question but tore into her after she started to describe the ways when he asked.

"And how did I harm you?" Lewis asked me with a cruel glint in his eyes.

I looked past him to Barba who nodded his head. He was with me on this one, I guess he knew what it was like to want revenge as well. "You burned me and raped me."

This exchange continued back and forth, me answering questions while Lewis got a kick out of it. It wasn't fair, why did he have get pleasure out of this? I knew this was all needed to put him behind bars forever so I would never have to deal with him again, but it didn't give my mind any reassurance.

I had to wonder though, was this trial worth what I was putting Mia through? She was already damaged and scarred enough. No one would be able to take back what she has seen or has been through. She probably was never going to trust a man again, I shook my head. Now that was a little extreme, she trusted Barba and me. Maybe she would be alright, I hope so.

I stepped down from the witness stand after Lewis finished badgering me with questions that only gave him pleasure. I ran a hand through my hair as I walked over to Liv, she had this look of pride on her face. I had no idea why but she did. She seemed impressed...no that's not the right word...she seemed proud. Yes, proud, she seemed proud of me and how far I have come.

Mia looked at me with a small smile on her face, she seemed relieved this was the last trial, I think everyone was. It has been a long road to be able to get to where we have gotten and I know I still have awhile to go but I have a feeling this is the start of something good. I smiled and shook my head as Barba and Lewis did their closing arguments.

(Olivia's POV)

Thank god we won. We had finally beaten Lewis, he was never, ever, getting out of the secure facility that we had put him in. He was going to rot in there and that was fine by me and the squad. I walked into the station with Nick, Mia, and Noah, the squad had thrown together a little surprise for the three of them.

I looked at the squad room to see the other kids that we had found, they had been placed all in one group home and they seemed pretty happy there. I was glad I was able to pull some strings for them, the didn't deserve the situation they were in.

I looked over and Mia's face completely lit up when she saw the kids she had bonded with. The oldest girl, Maxine, stepped forward and Nick narrowed his eyes at her.

"Hey Mia," she said giving her a hug. "Nicholas." She said nodding her head to him.

I chuckled under my breath, it seemed Nick had a unique relationship with Maxine. "Maxi," he said with a smirk on his face.

"I'll leave you guys to it." I said winking at the oldest boy Blake, he looked like he wanted to murder Nick.

(Nick's POV)

We all were sitting down for pizza that Olivia ordered us, I could tell Mia and Noah were having a blast. The only ones not having fun were me and that Blake kid. I sighed, it looks like I was going to have to be the bigger man and introduce myself and all that jazz. If he pisses me off though, he's getting knocked out.

I turned to where he was sitting next to me and held out my hand for him to shake. "I'm Nick," I said watching him through my golden eyes, I was trying not to harden them into a glare because that's not very friendly as Liv says.

Blake arched an red eyebrow at me, his grey eyes bore into mine. "Blake," he said and shook my hand very firmly.

I tried not to wince at how tight he was squeezing my hand, man this kid had a chip on his shoulder! Why did Mia even like him? He seemed so...Blakish. He finally let go of my hand and when everyone left the table but us he turned to me. "Stay away from Maxine. She doesn't need filth like you around."

"Great meeting you too!" I called after him as he began to retreat over to Maxine, Mia, and the crazy blonde blue eyed kid they called Rex. I wasn't sure why they called him Rex but I wasn't sure I wanted to know.


	29. Trouble Maker

**SORRY SORRY SORRY! It took me forever to update, so sorry! Here's the update, hope you guys like it! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE CONTINUED SUPPORT THOUGH! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 29)

(Nick's POV)

I sat in shock, Olivia wanted us to go to school. Not any school though, a special school for kids who were behind in their studies and had learning disabilities, and for kids with behavior problems. "We're not special ed," I told Liv flat out.

Mia looked between us nervously but Olivia took a deep breath. "I know that Nick, but you do need more help then most kids." She said shaking her head. "This school will help you guys get back on track so you both can go to normal schools. But, Mia will have to be in their official special education classroom because of how behind she is."

"No way," I snapped at her protective for my little sisters well being. She would get made fun of...I didn't want that to happen.

"Nick," Mia said softly shaking her head. "It's okay."

So here we were standing in front of the school with Liv. "Come on you two," she said leading us into the small red bricked building.

It was very small but had over three hundred students total in it, Liv had said it was very hard to get into but she managed to pull some strings for us. The secretary was nice enough, she was extra peppy and talked to us like we were two. Especially Mia, because she had been placed in the special needs class. I still was mad at Liv about that. Mia was not special needs...okay sure she had some issues with learning, paying attention, and definitely some PTSD and paranoia! But she was a completely normal kid who deserved the best shot at a normal life.

I looked at Mia as we walked down to her class, I convinced the secretary to let me walk her down but not Liv. Liv had to get back to the squad room anyway, they had caught a case and she needed to interview the victim apparently.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" I asked Mia as I ran a hand through my dark brown hair.

Mia looked at me with those green eyes and gave me a small nervous smile. "I'm sure," she said and then grinned. "Maybe I'll get to see you and embarrass you in front of all your friends!" She said brightly.

I laughed and shook my head, she was such a little sister. We maybe close and each other's really only friend beside the kids she made friends with locked in a basement but I didn't count them, but we were still brother and sister. We knew how exactly to get on the other ones nerves. "Yeah, yeah." I snorted with a roll of my eyes.

We stopped in front of a classroom that had this big all welcome sign on it, it was all rainbowy and shiny, not my style. "Come on," I said knocking on the door before opening it up.

There were kids who were like Mia but a little different. They all seemed interested in their own thing but the room was bustling with life. There were six kids in Mia's class total four boys and two girls now including Mia. Maybe this place wouldn't be so bad.

I met with her teacher as one of the teacher aids helped Mia settle in, I liked the teacher alright, I was just worried Mia would never get out of Special Ed.

(Olivia's POV)

I was in the squad room when Mia and Nick returned from school both in a fit of laughter. I smiled, that was the first time I had seen those two laugh in a week. I came out of my office to greet them. "How was school?" I asked them.

"It was great! Nick threw food at this jerk kid and got detention for a week!" Mia burst out with a big smile on her face.

I mentally sighed when Nick gave me a smug smirk, of course he had managed to get into trouble on the first day. I couldn't just have one calm day with these two or in the job I am in. "Did he now?" I asked Mia ruffling her hair as I gave Nick a look that said we were so talking about this later.

Nick rolled his eyes at me, I frowned at him. What was with this sudden attitude change? Did something happen that I didn't know about? I watched as he whispered into Mia's ear and she giggled running towards the soda machine. He sauntered over into my office and sat down in the chair.

"Teenagers," Rollins chuckled as she past me. "You've got to love them."

"I know," I muttered as I walked towards my office.

I had to wonder what I had gotten myself into. Also, I wondered how I was going to straighten Nick out, he was the wild card for me. Mia I could deal with fine, she was a great kid and listened well enough. Nick on the other hand...well let's just say he was the one who liked to challenge authority. I just had to wonder if I had gotten myself in too much? Should I have given them to foster care? I always wonder about that. I am constantly working and barely have time for Noah and now I was taking care of two kids that were more demanding than Noah. I shook my head, I couldn't give them up. They would end up right back where they started or worse. I knew Nick would do anything to give Mia the best life possible.

I shut the door and sat down at my desk across from Nick who was lounging in the chair like he owned it. While I was glad he was comfortable, I was worried about him acting out. I had read somewhere when teenagers acted out it was because they were in distress. I hoped that wasn't the case with Nick. I hoped I could just talk it out with him and make the problem go away.

"Why did you throw the food?" I asked him with a sigh.

"Because he was a jerk with anger issues." Nick said with a shrug. "He had no idea what he was getting himself into by pissing me off."

He didn't seem at all concerned with the consequences that came with getting in trouble. I shook my head in annoyance this was going to be a long road to get him to care about getting into trouble. "Nick, why did he piss you off?"

"He made fun of Mia, he called her a name," Nick said biting his lip.

Ah, and there it was. Nick was standing up for his sister, but he still shouldn't of thrown the food. "You shouldn't have thrown the food though. Now you have to attend detention. I'm glad you stood up for Mia though."

Nick snorted as he reached into his pants pocket. "Oh, the principal said I have to give this to you," he said leaving the room.


	30. Friday Night Lights

**Hello people! So it's been forever since I have updated and I'm so sorry about that! I totally lost muse for this story but it has come back and I will keep writing it! This is just sort of an intro to the next challenge for Liv and Nick mainly. I hope you like it! And thanks for sticking around this long! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 30)

(Nick's POV)

I was at school and everything was going fine, it had been a month and things had been eerily quiet. Not that I was complaining or anything, I was really enjoying my life here with Mia, Noah, Liv, and the squad even though I got detention…a lot.

Apparently I was nothing but trouble as the principal put it and I was going to go to juvie and then prison just like those guys I put away. I didn't tell Liv about that comment because she would have absolutely lost it. She protected Mia and I the best she could but it was more coddling then anything. I didn't need to be coddled but Mia did, she had never been coddled before and I was glad she was finally getting to experience what it was like to be treated like a princess.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when my name was called over the intercom. "Nicholas Hart, to the office please. Nicholas Hart," the secretary's voice filled the school followed by a bunch of oohhs.

I rolled my eyes as I shoved my books into my back pack and stood up, I sauntered out of the room like this was no big deal. The truth is, this wasn't a big deal. This was such a normal occurrence it had become routine for me.

I was deemed the bad kid of the school. I smirked, I was just playing a part, it was something I was good at. I did what was expected of me and just got by. While my sister thrived, I was just barely surviving. I was glad she was thriving though, she deserved it. She was twelve years old and she didn't even know what it was like to ride a bike or to go to the park or to go shopping with friends. I wanted all of this and more for her.

I walked into the office and I was ushered into one of the counselor's offices. I frowned, now this was not part of the whole song in dance. Now I was dancing to a whole different tune to a whole different song and I was no longer the lead.

The office was friendly, the walls were painted many colorful colors and posters covered the office. Most of them described emotions from what I could tell and there was a small table with four chairs at it. Three of those chairs were filled with one empty.

In those three occupied chairs, there sat Liv, Mia, and the counselor. The counselor was a young blonde and blue eyed lady who was probably in her early twenties. She had a peppy smile on her face and was deep in conversation with my sister about some subject that didn't seem to matter in the moment. I just wanted to know what the hell they were all doing here? Usually, it was just me and the principal or the counselor (if I was lucky) and I had to talk my way out of some mess or at least negotiate my punishment down to detention instead of suspension because Liv would really kill me then.

The counselor, Mrs. Moss, turned to me and smiled brightly. "Nicholas! Come and sit down!" She said brightly patting the chair beside Liv.

I gave Liv a look as I sat down beside her in the chair putting my backpack on the floor beside the chair. She just shook her head at me, she wanted me to hear what Mrs. Moss had to say first. Oh brother, this was going to be fun.

"Olivia, it's so wonderful to finally meet you!" Mrs. Moss said with a huge grin in front of me. I had to refrain from vomiting. "I am excited to offer your foster children a wonderful opportunity!"

"It's nice to meet you as well, and under better circumstances than usual." Olivia said giving me a pointed look.

I simply flashed her an innocent grin and wide eyes. Me? The cause of such messes? How? Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Mrs. Moss being fooled by my act. She looked at me with sympathy.

The thing I loved about new, fresh, innocent people like Mrs. Moss, they thought there was nothing that could harm them in this world. As if everyone shitted rainbows and cried magical candy tears.

"What's the opportunity?" Mia asked, her green eyes were wide in excitement. I sighed, it was probably going to be something stupid like more therapy or whatever, I didn't want her to be disappointed.

"I am so glad you asked Mia!" Mrs. Moss cooed at my sister. "Well, I have talked to one of the coaches on getting you both involved in sports and the one sport that had an opening was the Junior Varsity Football Team! Isn't that exciting? They want you both to join their team, since most of their players moved to varsity or different schools this year!"

Mia looked at me for a cue and Liv just sat there with a smile. Like, it might be a great opportunity type of smile. After a couple of seconds I bursted out laughing. "Wait, wait, wait!" I laughed loudly, I got disapproving looks from all three at the table but I was on a roll. "You want me and Mia to play football? Are you trying to be dumb or were you born with your head up your ass?" I interrogated her.

"Nick!" Mia and Liv hissed at me at the exact same time.

'"We," I said gesturing to Mia and I. "Cannot play football, we have no training and we can't even do normal academic things let alone play sports! Also, I would rather stab both my eyes out with a fork then play for a team made up of a bunch of idiots."

Mrs. Moss sighed shaking her head softly. She looked almost…sad. "I'm sorry Nicholas, but this is your only option unless you want to be kicked out of this school. The principal said that the only way you can stay here is that you get involved in sports so it will shape your behavior."

That's what led to me standing with Mia in the middle of a football field with a helmet under my arm, pads on my thin shoulders, and a red jersey over it. Mia was wearing the same thing, she was going to be a cheerleader but she threw a fit so now she was on the football team, yay. How lucky were we?

I looked over at where JV was practicing, they weren't very good. All these kids were older then both Mia and I and they were obviously here because they were forced to. They were either fat and lazy or skinny and nerdy, there really was no in between. I looked down at Mia who was jumping up and down with excitement.

I grabbed her hand and dragged her over to where our new 'team', if you can even call it that, was standing. The couch was a tall guy, with a whistle around his neck. He scowled when he saw the both of us. He mainly scowled at Mia, I'm guessing because she was a girl.

"Coach, we have to play with girls now?" A red headed boy complained pointing at Mia.

"If you have a problem with it, then you can take it up with me," I growled at the boy, he simply rolled his eyes at me.

"Alright, boys…and girl?" He said frowning and shaking his head at Mia as we both put our helmets on our heads. "Let's warm up with some laps!"

After practice the Varsity players were finishing up their practice, I was putting my gear up while keeping an eye on Mia. "Hey Hart!" One of the boys called to me.

I turned around to see the jerk boy, Roman, who messed with Mia the first day of school standing there with his goons. "Watch this." He had a football and chunked it as hard as he could at Mia.

It hit her straight in the head, she wasn't wearing padding or a helmet because practice was over. My vision turned red, they just touched the wrong boy's sister. "Roman," I said jumping down from the bleachers. "Watch this."

(Olivia's POV)

I pulled up with Finn, we had just finished investigating for the day and we were picking up Nick and Mia from football practice. I couldn't believe these two were on the football team! I couldn't be more proud.

That's when I saw Nick was flung into the middle of the road, but he quickly recovered. "Finn, back me up!" I said as I got out of the car quickly to stop three boys from probably meeting their deaths by my foster son.

"Nicholas!" I yelled at him pulling him off. I saw Mia run across the parking lot and get in the car, at least she was safe. "What in the world were you thinking?"

"They hurt Mia," Nick growled at me crossly, he was pissed but I didn't care. He couldn't blow up whenever someone messed with Mia, he was protective but it was getting dangerous.

Finn had got the three boys to leave as I forced Nick into the car. "Buckle up," I sighed as I listened to his string of curses and threats.

I needed to get this boy some anger management.


	31. It's Not Over

**Sorry this took me forever! I have been crazy busy! I hope you guys enjoy this even though it took forever for me to update! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 31)

(Nick's POV)

It was the night of our first football game, I had worked my way all the way up to starting Quarterback for the JV team. Mia was the starting wide receiver, she was the fastest person on the team and she was a girl. I wasn't one to discriminate by gender but, it was still impressive. Liv promised she would come with the squad, I hoped she would. I had been working really hard and so had Mia, I've also done my best to stay out of trouble…

I put my helmet on as Coach Brown pulled me aside. "Alright son, this is the first game of the season. So give them hell and let's win a game!" He said messing up my helmet.

"You got it Coach!" I said grinning as I placed the mouth guard into my mouth.

I really liked Coach Brown, he was really cool and really easy going. Even though he wasn't that great of a Coach, he was better than nothing. Hopefully we would win tonight, if we won, it would be the first game won in the history of our high school's JV team.

Mia was already on the field with the other staring players, since I was the QB I would be going out last. Coach said I was basically the team's leader, it felt good to have some good responsibility for once. Not that I didn't like taking care of Mia, it was just nice to have something normal.

I jogged onto the field, the lights were beating down on us as my feet hit the turf. I could see Liv in the stands with Noah and with the entire SVU squad. Even Barba managed to come out to see us as well as Uncle Munch as he wanted to be called. I then looked across the field to see the other team and I felt my stomach drop. They were huge. They were big burly guys who looked like they could squash a skinny, white boy like me with just one beat of their fists. We were so outmatched and outmanned it was scary. Those were just the odds I liked though.

My whole life I have been outmatched and outmanned, and it made me have to use my brain. So instead of winning this by strength I would win this by smarts. I could tell the team was spooked, even Mia looked a little nervous. I gave them all a reassuring smile as we huddled up, we would be receiving first.

"How the hell are we going to win this?" Henry, a scrawny looking kid with glasses asked me.

"By doing what they won't expect," I replied as I looked at the other team, they were waiting for us to get out of their huddle. "They are going to hit hard and fast, but we are going to hit them harder."

The whole team looked at me like I was crazy. "What I mean is, we're not going to back down. I'll call the plays you guys just follow them."

Mia grinned, her mouth guard gleamed back at me as she adjusted her red jersey. "On three, Bucks!"

Our team name was stupid but what could you expect from a team like ours? We chanted as we got into position, I saw the kicker smirk as he punted the ball to us. I watched as Henry caught it and froze.

"RUN!" I screamed at him as I took to the field.

He seemed to kind of get it because he took off like a rocket, he was darting around like a pin ball when one of the biggest kids tackled him to the ground. I winced, that had to hurt.

The game went smoothly, we almost won, okay that's a complete lie. We were beat by A LOT. I don't even want to think about how bad we lost, but we did score a few touch downs and even more field goals so that counted for something.

I was walking back to the locker room when I saw a man, watching me, he looked strangely familiar. I got a sinking feeling in my stomach, the kind where when you think something is over when it's really not.

"Nick?" Mia asked coming up next to me with a frown. "Are you okay?" She asked me.

I took off my helmet and handed it to her. "Yeah, I'm fine. I need to go take care of something. Tell Liv, I'll be right there." I said.

Before she could ask any questions I started walking towards the man and when he saw I was beginning to follow him, he started walking. I jogged to catch up, he had brown hair and was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. He didn't stand out in the crowd, but I could pick him out because something was so off about him.

I followed him all the way into a section of the parking lot. It was pretty much empty and that's when the sinking feeling in my stomach felt even worse. I was in trouble I should have told Liv something was wrong. I should have gone to her about the feeling and have had her check it out with the squad. I wasn't a police officer I was just a kid.

It was way too late now, the man turned around. His green eyes landed on me, they were crinkling at the edges because he knew he had me. "Hello, Nicholas." His voice came out smoothly and deeply.

"You know, I'm just going to go," I said, I was going to go in a dead sprint when I was grabbed by two men and a cloth was placed on my mouth and nose. The world grew dark really fast.

(Olivia's POV)

"Good job Mia!" I congratulated my foster daughter with a proud grin.

"You were better than your brother," Barba teased her but I knew he was half serious because he was Barba. "Speaking of, where is that pain in the-"

I cut him off with a glare but I was wondering the same thing. I looked over at Rollins, Dodds, Fin, Carasi, and Munch. They all frowned and began looking around for him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Tucker held my hand, he had arrived late to the game but was there as promised. I looked down at Noah who was blinking innocently at Mia. "Mia," I said who was looking frantic. "Where was the last place you saw Nick."

"We were about to go into the locker room," Mia informed me her green eyes growing huge. "He handed me his helmet and said he had to go take care of something, he then disappeared into the crowd."

"Tucker," I said turning to my boyfriend. "Can you take Mia and Noah to the apartment for me?"

"Wait, Liv is Nick okay?" Mia asked, the panic was clear in her eyes. She was catching on that something wasn't right here.

"That's what I'm going to find out. Go with Tucker and Noah, I'll see you at home," I said giving Noah and Mia kisses on the forehead.

I watched Tucker pick up Noah and take Mia's hand who walked with him in a daze. She was confused, she thought the threat to their lives was gone. I had thought the same thing, unless we missed something and the threat had been around us all along.

I turned to my squad, Barba, and Munch. "Munch, can you go with Tucker? If something has happened to Nick, Mia is going to be very distraught." I said biting my lip.

"Of course Liv. I will keep her calm," Munch said touching my shoulder as he briskly walked away to go to his car.

"Alright," I said with a deep breath, I was back in work mode. This time, it was a lot harder. One of my sons were missing. "Fin and Rollins check the surrounding area for any trace of Nick. He might still be here, let's hope to God he is."

Fin nodded his head. "If he's here, we'll find him Liv."

Rollins patted my shoulder gently as she led the way back towards the field.

I turned to Dodds, we hadn't told anyone but next week would be his last week at SVU before he went onto the terrorism taskforce. What a hell of a last case to have to work on. "Alright, Dodds, you and Carasi go look through the school's camera footage and footage surrounding, let no stone unturned. Just find something." I said pinching the bridge of my nose as I sent them on their way.

I turned to Barba who looked at me with a shake of his head. "This is never going to be over." He sighed shaking his head. "This is a losing battle, but are you sure you want to make it yours?"

I nodded my head. "These kids are my responsibility I am going to give them a normal life if it's the last thing I do. Be on stand by, we might need a warrant or two."

Barba shook his head again he didn't like this. No one did, but Mia and Nick were special victims. They needed our help, even if I wanted to drop this case, which I didn't, I couldn't because no one else was equipped to deal with this. "No judge is going to want to get involved in this case. It's sticky and messy and-"

"The exact case we take," I interrupted him. "Find a way, call in a favor, I don't care what you do Barba, just figure it out."


	32. Finding Nicholas

**Hello people! WARNING THERE IS GOREY ABUSE OF NICK IN THIS CHAPTER, SKIP THE END OF HIS POINT OF VIEW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ IT. I hope you like it! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 32)

(Nick's POV)

I woke with a pounding headache, it felt like my head was going to explode but it quickly subsided. My golden eyes took in the room around me, it was a dark space without any windows, I could barely make out an outline of a door. I was in complete and utter darkness, that's when the panic began to set in. I was away from Mia and in serious danger.

I slowly got to my feet stumbling over to the door, I was weak. I had no idea of how long I had been out, but it was obvious that whatever they knocked me out with was some strong drug. I shook my head as my hand grasped the knob, to my surprise the door opened.

Light flooded my vision as I walked barefoot on the soft velvet carpet, I used the wall to help me walk. Half of my bare chest was pressed against the cream colored walls as I struggled to keep moving. I could see two of almost everything, the hallway felt like it was endless but it wasn't that way. I came to an ending with two ways, which was really four ways because of my vision, and stumbled over to where I thought led the way out.

That's all I could focus on, getting out. I had to get to Mia, I had to protect my little sister. Whoever caught me would target her next, we were a package deal, and it was common knowledge to the different rings that we were more valuable together then apart. My mind was screaming at me with nonsense, I couldn't think straight. I felt like a trapped animal with no hope of escape.

I made my way into a kitchen, all there were was a granite counter and the same man I saw with what looked like six, but probably only three other kids. "Ah! Nicholas, how wonderful of you to join us!"

The man's voice echoed in my head, I felt like I was going crazy. I had to focus, when I tried the drug began to subside. I gasped as held onto the granite island for support, it was the only thing that was separating me from the man and the two boys and one girl. The boys were my age but the girl, she was young, she looked like Mia.

"Mia," I said stumbling around the island to reach the young girl who walked backwards.

"Oh Nicky, you are so out of it." The man purred in my ear as he grabbed my shoulders harshly. "That's not your little sister, son. That's Charlotte, a replacement for your sister if you will. You can call me Master or Sir."

I shook my head as I ripped myself out of his grip. I was feeling better that meant the drug was wearing off. I had to get back to Liv and the little bit of salvation I had found with her. This man 'Sir' or 'Master' or whatever twisted name he wanted to go by was not going to take that away from me.

"Go to hell," I said as I looked at my surroundings. The windows were barred and there was no way we were in New York City we were somewhere more rural.

"That's no way to talk to the person who's going to feed you." Sir, I decided I was going to refer to him as that since I could swallow it better than the other name, tsked.

"I'll starve and perish before I eat or drink anything you provide," I snarled at him.

He got a razor sharp grin on his face and gripped my arm tightly. "Well, school has taught you something. And I will teach you something else," he said dragging me back to the dark room but left the door open.

He threw me in there and began to unloop his belt, I knew what was coming next. He was going to break me. "Take your pants and underwear off and I might take it easy on you." He said with a wide grin.

"Like hell I will," I said putting my fists up as if I was about to get into a fight.

He was fast and strong though, in two swift movements he had me pinned against the wall and my pants and underwear were dropped down to my ankles. "You try to cover your bottom then I will add five lashes for each offense. You try to escape I add five. Is that clear?"

I stayed silent and I could hear his smirk as he flicked the belt onto my bare skin. I hissed in pain, the belt felt like a small fire on my bare bottom. I knew when he was finished I would have several bruises. "Yes Sir," I managed to stutter out.

"Good," he said and began to rhythmically and with a steady hand inflict a punishment I didn't deserve onto my skin. He started with my lower back. "The rules here are simple Nicholas," he said as he continued to beat me with his belt. "You do what I say, you eat and drink what I provide, you follow orders with no back talk, and you will be fine. If you choose to act out, then you will find yourself in a similar position but worse than what you are in now."

He continued to lecture me as he tanned my backside before moving down to my sit spots. I yelled in pain, I went as long as possible without crying out but there was only so much I could take before even I began to cry out. Tears ran down my face as I earned five, ten, fifteen, and finally forty extra licks for trying to get away and trying to cover. Finally, the punishment ended.

"Stand in the corner silently." He barked out at me, I knew better than to argue as I flew to the corner. "And keep your hands on your head. I will make sure to come get you when I think you have served enough time for your crime."

(Olivia's POV)

I put out an Amber Alert for Nick as I headed back to my apartment after a sleepless night, Dodds forced me to go home. He said Mia needed to hear the news from me, I was her foster mother after all and I would probably be the only one she would not try to injure to get to her brother.

I unlocked the door to see Munch holding Noah and Tucker pinning Mia on the ground. I dropped my stuff as I listened to Mia's screams. She was having a break down, her teachers told me they were pretty sure she was on the spectrum, high functioning end of it of course, but I hadn't gotten her tested. I wasn't sure if either Mia or Nick could handle the news if Mia's results came back as I thought they would.

"Mia, I need you to calm down." Tucker said in a level voice but I could tell he was getting worked up. She must have been like this for awhile.

"I hate you! I want my brother! NICK! NICK!" She screamed at the top of her lungs as tears rushed down her face.

Tucker looked up at me and his eyes filled with relief that I was here to help him. Our best man when it came to Mia wasn't here, so I would have to fill in the best I could. I didn't ask what got her upset or how she got upset because I was pretty sure I knew. "Mia, Mia, I need you to breathe." I said, her body bucked and her cries got louder. I turned to Munch. "Munch, I need you and Tucker to get Noah out of here. Take him to Lucy's."

Both men exited with Noah who had launched into a crying fit because of Mia's fit on the floor. Before Mia could shoot up, I drew her in my arms keeping her arms immobile as I rocked her gently. I've seen Nick do something similar when she would get like this. I've only seen this happen twice but never this extreme.

"Shh, shh, it's okay," I whispered in her hair as I began to hum a song that I thought she might find soothing. I was willing to try anything. I wanted to help her, but only Nick really knew how. This poor girl had been abused and had a long way to go to recover and there was almost nothing I could do to help the progress along.

"NICK! I WANT MY BROTHER!" Mia screamed at me, and that's when I got an idea.

She wanted her brother, and she couldn't have him right now but maybe a video would calm her down for a moment so I could maybe get her some water. I held her tight as I pulled out a video I took a couple of weeks ago of Nick pretending to be on America's Got Talent. We had been watching the show and he thought he had talent, which he did but he wasn't showcasing it.

I pressed play on the video, and it started up. It had Mia, Noah, Tucker, and I laughing in the background as Nick strutted around the room with Tucker's tie on his head and my coat on. He had to 'get into costume' as he sang to some random pop song that the singer was singing on the T.V. I had to hide my own tears as Mia stopped struggling in my arms but the tears still fell heavily. I gently set her onto the couch and went into the kitchen. I got her a pill to help her sleep as well as a nice big glass of ice water. She needed her strength to get to the next day.

I walked out of the kitchen and handed her the items, she was too distraught to ask questions as I started up the video again and she took the medicine and downed the water. It took her thirty minutest but she did fall asleep, I kissed the crown of her head as I carried her to her room and put her in her bed.

I then texted Tucker and Munch that they could bring Noah back up, by 5 o'clock in the morning Noah was in my arms. I rocked him to sleep as Tucker said goodbye to Munch. After Noah was asleep and in bed beside Mia he sat down next to me.

"Are you okay?" Tucker asked as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"About as well as can be expected." I said looking at him and shaking my head. "I'm more worried about Mia then anything. She's experiencing so much emotion and she doesn't even know how to process it."

Tucker kissed my cheek as if trying to comfort me. "She needs time and we need to find her brother which we will. We will bring Nick home and until then we can only provide as much support to Mia as possible," he said and shook his head. "You know I'm not going to like what I have to say but-"

"I know," I interrupted him shaking my head as well. "I need to get her tested."

"Liv, you and I both know that wasn't just an upset, scared tantrum. That was a full on melt down and she could be really dangerous to herself or others if she doesn't get help." Tucker said wincing at my frown, he knew I didn't like what he had to say.

"Tucker, Mia is not dangerous to anything or anyone or even herself. I can't see how a for sure diagnosis or a diagnosis of something completely different could help us now." I lied, I was being completely naïve because I was only trying to protect my foster daughter.

"Olivia," Tucker sighed. "I know you want to protect her from more harshness of this world but this will help her. And it will give her something to focus on, as well as a safe place while you are trying to find her brother."

"I know," I whispered in defeat. I had to get Mia to a testing center. I would send Munch to go with her, Mia liked him and I knew he would do a good job with looking after her.


	33. Pattern

**SORRY THIS TOOK ME FOREVER. I HAVE BEEN SO BUSY. I hope you guys like it though. :) Enjoy. lolamay101**

(Chapter 33)

(Nick's POV)

I have been here, I don't know how long, at least two days. The beatings came and went, I pissed 'Sir' off more then all of the other kids did. I think he was starting to regret taking me, but that's when things began to change. A new girl showed up. The guys, Martin and Aiden, told me that this wasn't normal. Sure, they got a new person here every once and awhile but getting two people this fast, things were changing.

I heard the girl's screams, and I hated to say it but the voice sounded familiar. I frowned as I left the room that I was instructed to stay in, when I saw Sir throwing her onto the ground. He was about to hit her, I ran and stood in front of her.

He raised his eyebrows at me and smirked. "What Nicky? You're going to take Maxine's beating for her?" He sneered at me.

That's how I knew her, this was Mia's Maxine. I mentally shook my head, I had no idea what this guy was doing with kids rescued from their rings. Charlotte, Martin, and Aiden were all rescues when they were taken too, what game was he playing?

"If I have to, then fuck yeah. I'm not going to let you beat up a girl half your size. If you want a punching bag, use me." I snapped as I looked back at Maxine who seemed to be going into shock. I ignored the man for a minute as I kneeled down in front of her. "What's your name?"

I was asking her questions that I already knew to keep her in the present. If she went into shock, then things could get dangerous. "Maxine," she said softly.

I swore as Sir yanked me back by my hair. "You want to protect her boy? Fine, then I have just the plan for you," he said, his mouth twisted in a cruel smirk.

He put us in the small dark room where I took my beatings and locked the door without a word. I rolled my eyes, at least this was better then being beaten. I looked over at Maxine, her clothes were ratty, and torn, he must have just snatched her. I shook my head, poor girl.

"Don't look at me like that," Maxine snapped at me as she pulled her long black hair out of her eyes.

I recoiled in surprise, how did this girl go from scared and cowardly, to a lioness in a matter of seconds? "Excuse me?" I asked her with my eyebrows raised in surprise.

"What?" She asked snorting in amusement. "You expected a sniveling little bitch? Well, that was called acting sweetheart so I get to live another day. If it wasn't for you I might be out in the open for a little while with just a bruise or two!" She snapped at me.

I was in complete shock this girl spoke a totally different language then I did. My golden eyes were wide why did she decide to fake such a thing? I quickly shook off my shock when I heard that she decided it would be a great idea to blame me. "You're blaming me?" I snorted with a scowl and a shake of my head. "You should be thanking me! I saved your ass!"

"I can save myself idiot! I have been at this game for a _very_ long time, much longer then you have even. I was born into this shit hole," Maxine snarled at me, her blue eyes flashing in irritation at my comment.

I paused, she was born into this ring? What? "You were-"

"Born into this shit?" Maxine asked me humorlessly. "Yes, I was. My mother was a working girl she was our age when she had me. My mother died in childbirth, guess who had to take her place at age five?"

Maxine seemed to have it hard, but I also had it hard. I was first abused at age five as well, I had no idea what it was like to spend your toddler years with the ring but I knew how it was with everything else. "Look, I was trying to protect you. I'm sorry that you lost your Mom, but I really don't have time to go down memory lane," I said leaning against a nearby wall with my eyes locked on her.

"Right, you need to get back to your sister." Maxine sighed shaking her head. "I need to get back to my guys too. Pissing off the people who control us or trying to take the fall for each other is not going to get us out of here. What we need to do is build trust, that's how we escape." Maxine said as she began to pace the room.

I snorted shaking my head. "That may work for you, but not for me. I'm the ring's golden child, there is no way they are letting me out of their sights."

"Well I guess I'm just going to have to escape then. Better one of us then none of us, right?" Maxine asked me with a small shrug.

"Sure," I lied crisply.

I got the whole need to look out for yourself type of thing. I taught Mia to look out for other people though, and that when someone is in trouble, no matter what, you work together to get out of the mess. That's how Mia and I survived so long, family is everything. Although Maxine may not be family, Mia would kill both of us if one left the other behind. I wasn't going to let Maxine know that though.

"It's nothing personal," Maxine said shaking her head. "You would do the same thing, right?"

(Olivia's POV)

"What do we have?" I asked Carisi who was going over the footage for the tenth time of Nick.

We had been trying to figure out who was at the Friday night game but it was like trying to find a needle and a stack of needles. We weren't getting anywhere, and God only knows what could be happening to Nick right now.

"Liv," Rollins said coming over to me with Fin. "Maxine Moore, one of the kids we rescued? She's gone too."

"We have our pattern then." I said turning to Carisi. "Carisi, you and Rollins keep going over the footage," I commanded the two of them, Rollins looked like she wanted to argue but knew better to at the moment. "Fin, you and Dodds go get the kids out of the foster homes and bring them here. We'll put them in protective custody. Hurry."

If Maxine and Nick were taken, who knows how long it would be until they got their hands on Mia? Mia couldn't take anymore heartbreak, I had to do everything in my power to protect her. Luckily, right now she was with Munch getting a diagnosis. A psychologist owed the department a favor.

All of a sudden my phone rang. "Benson." I answered calmly.

"Hey Liv, we're on our way to you. Mia's a little…irritable? We should be there soon." Munch said, I could hear the car in the background as well as Mia.

"Alright, thanks so much for this Munch. I owe you big time," I said hanging up the phone.

Munch and I would talk about Mia when they got here. Hopefully it didn't come back as anything, but I knew that it wouldn't. Mia was suffering all sorts of trauma and I was pretty sure she was somewhere on the spectrum, but that was okay. We would manage as soon as she got here, right now I had to search for Nick.

I turned to my squad. "Carisi, do you have anything from nearby?" I asked him with a sigh.

"We searched through all the nearby traffic cams as well as the school cams and we found nada." He said rubbing his face. "It's like he disappeared into thin air."

Rollins poked her head up, her green eyes seemed to light up with a little victory. "I found something in facial recognition." She reported turning her screen towards me. "This guy's name is Robert Parker, he has a record and is on the sex offender registry for having child porn on his computer. It says he has an address in Brooklyn."

"Can you two check it out for me?" I said, I hated having to let them have to do it. "I have to wait for Mia's test results and for little miss herself."

"Of course Liv," Carisi said standing up and grabbing his coat.

"Be careful, you guys, they're crafty." I warned them as I watched them go.


	34. Hold On

**Hello people**! **SORRY IT HAS TAKEN ME FOREVER TO UPDATE. I HAVE BEEN SO BUSY AGAIN. I hope you like it though.** **lolamay101**

(Chapter 34)

(Olivia's POV)

The house came up empty, I was beginning to lose hope but we had a string of addresses we got out of that goon Donald. I had Carisi and Rollins running down every address they could find and Fin on the dark net. Dodds was trying to talk to the other kids who were rescued with Mia, he wasn't getting very far.

Like Nick and Mia, these kids have been through years and years of abuse, they didn't trust anyone or anything except for their own. Now one of their own was missing, and there was no way they were going to be calm. I was waiting by phones just in case anything went through.

All of a sudden, a phone began to ring, but it was a special phone that we used to talk to perps and hostages. I frowned slightly, what could this mean? I would have gotten a warning if it was something important, maybe someone got this number by mistake? I had to answer it though, just in case something did happen.

"Hello, this is Lieutenant Benson with the police." I said into the phone as calm as possible.

A bone chilling voice filled the phone, I knew that voice too well. "Liv," it came out weak and feeble but still had a ring of defiance in it.

The voice belonged to my Nicholas, my Nick, I felt my heart freeze. This couldn't be real, this had to be a dream. There was no way my Nick had figured out this number or really anything. Someone must have put him through, or this was a sick joke. I put aside the fear that had festered into my stomach, I had my boy on the phone.

"Nick, honey, is that you?" I asked, as I waved Fin over to me. We've had a case like this before.

Fin didn't ask any questions, he began pulling up the tracker, it showed he was somewhere in Queens but didn't give us an exact location. I frowned, I have played out this song and dance before but the last time we Wong and his FBI connection to solve our problem. I had to figure out how to find Nick's exact location and save him before something truly bad happened to him.

"It's me Liv." He said softly in the phone. "I don't have much time, I lifted the phone off my captor and as soon as he finds out I'm as good as dead."

"Okay Nick, okay, I need you to talk to me and stay on the phone as long as possible, alright?" I said, I was so desperate to see my foster son again.

"Alright Liv, I'll try." Nick coughed out.

Nick sounded terrible, like death itself. I had to find him before something really bad happened to him.

"Nick, is there anybody with you?" I asked him, that was the first thing I had to figure out.

"Yeah, Maxine's locked in here with me. She's been asleep for over a day, I don't even know if she is alive." He sounded like he wanted to cry. "We're in a dark room with no windows, black walls and hard flooring. I've been out of this room one or two times and there are other kids here. I have no idea where here is though, because it's like a normal house but the windows are sealed up."

That was my Nick, he already knew what questions I was going to ask him. It made my heart hurt because he knew these things. He had been in too many situations like this and here we were again. It was almost like this was never ending, I just wanted to give him the normal life that he and his sister crave. I wanted him to be dealing with high school drama, not human trafficking drama.

"Good Nick, you are really good at describing things." I praised him. "Can you try to wake up Maxine for me? So we can see what shape she is in?"

Nick breathed nervously. "I've tried but I'll try again."

I muted the phone turning over to Fin. "What do we've got?"

Fin sighed putting his hands on his head. "Well, we know this is Nick and Maxine is with him so that's a start. They're somewhere in Queens but the connection is not great. I can't tell exactly where they are, even with this new technology we've gotten."

"Liv, she's not waking up. I can tell she's breathing but she just won't wake up." Nick said sound a little freaked out.

"Good job Nick, we know she's alive that's really awesome honey." I told him as I ran my hands through my hair. "Can you describe who took you?" 

"He has brown hair and wears jeans I'm sorry, Liv I don't really know much." Nick said and I could tell he was chewing on his lip.

Nick had these little nervous/angry habits and lip biting was one of them. One time something set him off, I forgot what it was, and he bit his lip so hard it began gushing blood. He didn't mean to do it he just didn't know where to put the emotion. If one thing football has helped with, it was for sure the controlling of his emotions.

"It's okay Nick, it's good you remembered that much. I'm guessing he didn't give you a name?" I asked him with a sigh, if only these perps made it easy.

"No, he didn't. Can I talk to Mia? I need to make sure she's okay." Nick said firmly into the phone.

"Nick, you know how much I want you and Mia to talk, but right now I don't think it's the best time for her to talk. You know it takes her a lot longer then most people to process things and-"

"If you don't get to me in time you don't want to have a melt down is that it?" Nick snapped into the phone. "If this situation was reversed I would kill to talk to her when I haven't seen her in what? A week or so? I need to talk to her, I may not ever talk to her again."

I sighed in defeat, he deserved to talk to his sister. "Okay Nick, I'm sending Fin to go get her."

I nodded to my partner to go grab Mia from the other room where she was with the other kids. My thought process was if Mia was there and the kids saw that she didn't mind Dodds it might go smoother.

Mia dashed into the room, her green eyes wide with fear and determination. "Where's the phone?" She demanded.

"Right here," I said moving over so she could be right in front of it as well as turning off the mute.

"Nick?" She asked hesitantly, I rubbed her back reassuringly.

"Mia," Nick breathed in relief. "Hey girly, how are you?"

"Nick, I need you to come home," Mia said seriously, her green eyes filled with misunderstanding. "Why can't you escape? Why hasn't Liv come to get you?"

"Mia, they're trying to find me. But if they don't-"

"They have to!" Mia demanded, I could tell tonight was not going to be a good night for us.

"Now Mia," Nick said in a very calm voice, I liked to call it the Mia voice. He used this whenever Mia was upset or on the brink of break down. "I need you to be a really good girl and listen to Liv. I want you to do everything she says. She is going to keep you safe, I promise."

"She didn't keep you safe," Mia cried in alarm.

I felt a wave of hurt go through not because Mia was trying to be mean because she wasn't, but because she was right. I had failed to protect my foster son and I let him run off with some stranger. I had to do better for my kids, they depended on me and I needed to make this ring disappear, forever. I might have to get the FBI involved in this. It might be time I gave a call to Wong.

"Liv did the best she could." Nick promised her, but I could feel him bull shitting her. I could have done so much better and he and I both knew it. "And she's going to do an even better job with you. Now Mia, I love you so, so, so much. And I'm going to see you again really soon, alright? I just need you to hold on, you're always going to be my sister no matter what happens."

"Who are you talking to?" A voice came in through the background.

Fin didn't even have to be told, he took a screaming and crying Mia out of the room. At least she got to speak with him, and we were going to find him. I would die before I would let this boy die.

"Who is this?" A man's smooth, deep voice filled the phone.

"Sir, this is the police. We know exactly where you are." I said trying to get some fear in him.

"No you don't." He said in a sing song voice, and the line went dead.


	35. Looking Up

**Hey guys, so this IS THE LAST TIME NICK OR MIA WILL BE KIDNAPPED. XD I'm taking this story in a different direction, it's going to focus more on the relationship aspects. Enjoy, lolamay101 :)**

(Chapter 35)

(Olivia's POV)

I was trying to calm Mia down but I knew it was almost no use. She talked to her brother on the phone a week ago and hadn't talk to him since. We had a trace and I needed to go, but Mia had had a melt down before I even could get out of the prescient. I looked helplessly over at Rollins, we had confined Mia in the family interrogation room throwing herself all over the floor.

"Liv," Rollins said biting her lip and shaking her head. "Beth is on her way, we can take care of Mia, you need to bring him home."

I looked over at Mia biting my lip, I didn't want to leave my daughter here freaking out, but my other son was counting on me. Noah was at home safe, with Lucy. I knew Lucy couldn't handle Mia and her needs, so I had to bring her to work because I had to find a new school for Nick and Mia. I shook my head, that was not what I needed to focus on right now. "Are you sure Amanda?" I asked her.

"I'm sure," Amanda said intercepting Mia before she could throw something at the plexi glass. "I've got this, she's easier to deal with than my sister. We'll be fine, I swear."

"Okay," I said shaking my head, I turned to the crying and screaming girl. "Mia, I'll be back soon."

I didn't get a reply and I didn't expect to, Mia was in the middle of a fit, she was pretty much unreachable when she was like this. I got into my car and turned on my sirens, it was time to go bring my boy home. I sped into Queens a block from the crack house where our phone and tech experts traced the phone to. I got out of the car armed with my gun and badge.

I walked to where the police were at with the swat team. "What do we have?" I asked calling out to Fin.

"There's definitely something in there, we have the place surrounded so no one is going anywhere until we decide. The problem is, one of the kids is a hostage." Fin informed me shaking his head.

"Any sign of Nick?" I asked him curiously, I just wanted to start to piece my eldest back together again.

"Not from what we can tell, the circus is going on in the back yard." Fin said shaking his head.

I knew I was letting my emotions get the best of me but I marched right past SWAT and opened the unlocked door. I heard shouts but I just held my hand telling them to wait, because I had a plan. Well sort of, it was forming in my mind. I just needed to get Nick and the rest of the kids out of here.

When I first got into the house everything was silent until I saw a tall figure get off the couch. "Who the hell are you?" The voice grunted, it didn't sound like the one from the phone.

"I'm Olivia Benson, I'm Nick's Mom and a police officer." I said showing him my badge.

The balding, African American man had a smirk of malice on his face. "Well, well, Nicky never told me he had such a pretty mother. But I'm afraid you're too late to see Nicky, he's about half dead by now I would guess."

Before I could react my phone began to ran loudly. I hurriedly picked up ignoring the man. "Hello?" I said anxiously knowing it was Carisi.

"We've got the kid out safe, we're sending SWAT in to retrieve the others." Carisi informed me.

I hung up and pushed the unarmed man out of the way running down the hall. I knew the tiniest and darkest room would be Nick's from what he described. I tried the knob and the door was bolted shut. I could hear coughing though and smoke was pouring through the crack in the door, whoever had kept Nick locked up here wanted a long death. He was trying to give Nick smoke poisoning.

I wasted no time starting to break down the door, I had to get to Nick and maybe Maxine before it was too late. I finally busted down the door with SWAT close behind me, I could see a barrel in the middle of the room with fire and nearby it Nick coughing and heaving. Maxine was alive but barely, the dark haired girl was twitching near him.

"Nick," I called to him beginning to drag him out, by the time I busted down the door SWAT had gotten there as well and was dragging Maxine out. "Nick honey, I need you to stay with me."

"I need a bus," I screamed loudly as I managed to scoop Nick up in my arms and carrying him down the porch.

(Nick's POV)

My eyes opened to see bright white light, am I in heaven? Is this what heaven even looked like, just a bunch of white light? The last thing I remembered was Sir stomping into Maxine's and my room with what looked like a rodeo barrel, he filled it with papers and my shirt, then lit it up. I begged him to let us come out but he just locked the door leaving me to bang on it since I was to weak to do anything else. Then someone came and got me out.

My eyesight adjusted and I realized that this wasn't heaven at all, it was a hospital. I looked to the side of me and there was Olivia with a giant teddy bear in her hands with a balloon. I sat up and looked down, I was in a hospital gown and there was a mask on my face. I ripped it off, I coughed and spluttered.

"Liv?" I asked hoarsely, I didn't know what else to say. "Where are we?" I asked dumbly.

She smiled reaching over and smoothing out my hair, kissing the crown of my head. "We're at the hospital my love, it's all over. You're safe, and no one is ever going to hurt you again. This time I promise they won't ever touch you."

I smiled goofily, I couldn't really comprehend what she was saying at the moment. I was just happy to be with her. "What's with the bear and the balloon," I said gesturing to the things in the chair beside her.

Liv smiled and shook her head. "Those things? They're from your sister, I sent Rollins with her to the cafeteria and instead of buying food, Rollins said she insisted on buying you gifts. Mia's in the bathroom with Beth right now, she's going to be so mad she missed you waking up."

"How long have I been out?" I asked coughing and winced at the pain in my chest.

"Three days, you came to the hospital really sick." Liv informed me as she hugged me. "I'm so sorry I wasn't able to protect you."

I froze, no one hugged me like that except Mia. It was like she really meant it, I awkwardly patted her back. "It's not your fault Olivia, it really isn't. I didn't think this would happen again but it did. I know you can't for sure promise it will happen again but I'm going to be more on my guard this time around." I said smiling weakly at her.

I had lost ten or twenty pounds from being gone so long so I looked like a walking skeleton. At least I was still handsome in the face, everywhere else had some sort of injury like a bruise or a scar. I could tell Liv was sad because she wasn't able to stop this from happening but I just accepted I would have to keep looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life. I really was okay with that I just didn't want Mia to have to go through that.

"The thing is though Nick, you deserve so much more then just this abusive cycle. You shouldn't have to keep looking over your shoulder, you're a good kid Nick. I'm going to give you that normal life I keep promising but this time I truly and completely will sacrifice anything and everything to make it happen. Even if it means leaving the squad." Liv said biting her lip.

"Olivia, you cannot pick up and throw everything away for me. You love your job and the people at your job, don't throw that away for me and Mia. We'll be fine. We'll stay closer to the prescient and figure everything out, I'm strangely optimistic this time." I chuckled shaking my head, it was weird to have hope for once.

The door suddenly opened and in walked my sister, Rollins, Rollins's cousin Beth. Mia's eyes completely lit up when she saw I was awake, breathing, and talking. "Nick," she yelled joyfully tackling me on the bed.

I laughed going into a coughing fit. "Hey girly, it's good to see you again."

"Be gentle Mia," Liv reminded my sister a hand going gently onto her shoulder and I was shocked to see my sister didn't even flinch. "Nick is still recovering and he is still having breathing problems."

Mia ignored her, she was too interested in me but she did give me a little more space. "I missed you so much," she squealed happily.

"I missed you too, Mia." I said grinning at her and ruffling her hair.

I turned to see Fin and Carisi joined Rollins and Beth by the door. "Good to see you again, Nick." Carisi said giving me a wave.

"Yeah, good to see you still have a little muscle." He teased me with a smirk.

I flexed my muscles winking a Beth who rolled her eyes. "Pick a time and place brother and I'll show off my muscles to you."

Liv quickly stepped in, even though Fin and I were just playing around. "You will not be doing any 'showing off' for a long time my friend." She said ruffling my hair.

"You've been through a lot Nick." Rollins agreed with a nod of her head. "You need to rest and focus on getting well."

"What do you mean focus on getting well, I'm perfectly fine," I said winking at Mia.

Everyone knew that was a lie but Mia seemed so desperate to believe it she settled into bed beside me holding on my neck like a monkey. I changed the subject quickly. "How's Maxine?"

"She's getting better." Olivia said nodding her head to me. "They did more psychological damage then physical but she's safe."

I sighed in relief, that was good to hear, at least she was okay. Maxine and I had spent a lot of time in that little 'cell' and I liked to think we had gotten close. She probably would have murdered me in the next few days because I was 'a blubbering idiot who had no common sense' but every relationship was a working progress right? I was just glad to be out of that hell, now maybe things were going to get better.


	36. A Chance Encounter

**Hello people, lolamay101 here. Thanks so much for reading. Another chapter has been pounded out :) And I will see you guys for the next one. ENJOY lolamay101 :)**

(Chapter 36)

(Nick's POV)

Olivia had bought a bigger, and safer apartment closer to the prescient. We were moving in today. It had been a week since I had gotten out of the hospital and despite having to look over my shoulder every two minutest and sleepless nights I was doing okay. Olivia was making me see this therapist dude every day and bribing me to talk with him so I could work out my issues.

Right now, I was in the middle of the kitchen with a bunch of boxes helping Liv unpack. Mia and Noah were somewhere playing in one of their rooms. In this apartment each of us got our own rooms but I probably would just live in Mia's. It gave me a lot of grief to not being able to see my sister at night. The paranoia that something bad was going to happen to her even though there were police officers crawling all over the place.

"Nick," Liv said drawing me from my thoughts. "Why don't we take a break? Maybe got out for lunch?" She offered with a smile.

I looked away, I had never been out to eat before. It's sad, I know, but I just had never been to a restaurant before. Mia and I had no idea how to act there, but I guess now was a good time to learn as any. I looked over at Liv who was waiting for my answer patiently. "Yeah," I said nodding my head with a smile. "I think that might be fun."

"Great," Liv said hugging me, I tried not to flinch. I knew she meant it as a loving touch so I was trying to get used to it. "Go get your sister and your brother."

I smiled and walked to Mia's room, the door was open. I stood in the doorway watching Mia draw pictures with Noah as she rambled on the newest thing she was obsessed with. I think right now it was cars, Liv got her a book about cars that they were reading before bed. She looked happy, that made me smile. Things might actually work out this time.

"Mia," I said calling to my sister but she didn't reply she was too absorbed in what she was doing. "Noah, guys, it's time for lunch. We're going out so get your shoes and coats." I told them.

Noah leapt into action running to go find Liv so she could help him get his coat and shoes on. Mia on the other hand was just too absorbed in her drawing, I sighed, I didn't want to cause a fit. We needed to get ready to go though.

I walked over to her and gently but quickly took the sketch book out of her hands and put it to the side as well as taking the pen out of her hand. "Mia, come on." I said making her stand up.

"Why did you take my drawing stuff away?" She asked crossing her arms as I grabbed her coat.

"Because we're going out to eat for the first time, I wouldn't want you to miss that," I said and her face lit up at that. "Now let's get your coat on." 

I helped Mia get herself together before lacing up my sneakers and meeting Liv and Noah with Mia at the door. "Everybody ready?" Liv asked us.

I nodded my head as I took Mia's hand and Liv took Noah's, we walked across the street to this American food restaurant. We were taken to a booth where Liv lifted up Noah and put him on the inside of the booth sitting next to him. I had Mia sit on the inside and I sat on the outside. We were handed menus.

"You can get anything you want Nick, you too Mia and Noah," Liv said ruffling Noah's hair. 

I nodded numbly as I looked up to see a blonde haired girl around my age come up to us in a uniform. She was a waitress, I looked to Liv panicking but she just smiled at me, reassuring me we were okay.

"Hi, I'm Kathy I'll be your waiter today," she said with boredom laced in her voice looking down at her note pad. Her eyes went up and she gasped seeing me. "Oh my God, you're the boy from the news. The one who raped his little sister. What kind of sicko does that?"

"Um, excuse me," Liv asked trying to be gentle but I could feel the anger coming off of her in waves. "That was very unprofessional of you, one. Two, you don't know the whole story. There's this saying it goes like 'don't judge my story by the chapter you walked in on' and I think you need to take that to heart."

I looked up at her, she upset Mia who had her hands over her ears and she was rocking back and forth. I stood up so that I could look at this blonde girl in the eye properly. "I was sold, brutally abused, and forced to hurt the only family I have," I said simply to her. "What would you do if they held a gun up to your little sister's head and said if you didn't rape her then she died?"

Kathy froze as I sat down, I looked over at my sister. Liv had given her, her phone so she could watch a video about cars so she calmed down. If Mia got too worked up she would have a melt down and it was much easier to deal with her melt downs if we were at the prescient or at the apartment.

"I would like to speak with your manager," Liv said her eyes not leaving my face. "And I would like a different server, you were incredibly evasive and rude." She said crisply.

Kathy scrambled away as she kissed Noah's head and squeezed my hand gently. "I'm sorry Nick, I would never have brought you here if I knew that was going to happen."

"It's not your fault Liv," I muttered softly as I pulled my sister's hair out of her eyes. "I'm just glad Mia's okay."

Lunch went a lot smoother after Kathy was gone, and we got our meal for free. We were going to the park because Dr. Lindstrom my therapist, said I needed to spend more time outside and doing things that were fun.

I sat down on the bench my leg bouncing as I watched Mia swing on the swings with Noah next to her. She was smiling and giggling as she swung herself up and down, I smiled gently I was glad she was happy. Liv had been taking her to the park a lot apparently and she loved to swing, it was my first time getting to see it and I was glad I was able to.

I looked over and saw Liv hugging someone, he was a middle aged man with dark brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt as if he was off work for the weekend. They came over to me and I tensed up, who was this? He was friends with Liv so maybe he was okay.

"Nick," Liv said smiling at the man. "This is my old partner Elliot Stabler, Elliot this is Nick Hart one of my sons."

"Pleasure to meet you," Elliot said holding out his hand for me to shake.

I simply stared down at it wearily as Olivia called Mia and Noah over to meet Elliot. I don't know why he was so important to her, Liv said something about him being her old partner. They must have worked together for awhile or something.

"So, kid, I've heard your pretty tough," Elliot said sitting down as Liv went to go push Mia and Noah on the swings.

"I guess you could say that," I said with a shrug watching my little sister smile.

"I heard you beat the snot out of a few football players," he said winking at me with a grin. "When I was your age I did the same thing. If someone messed with my sisters, I would beat them up really bad. I would probably do that now too if someone messed with my daughters."

"Family looks out for each other," I said simply my golden eyes glancing over at him. "And Mia's all that I've got. If I don't look after her no one will."

"That's not true." Elliot shook his head. "You have Liv now, and trust me, if there's anyone you can rely on it's Olivia Margret Benson. She's your family now, and I can tell she loves you."

I took this in and I nodded my head slowly. "I know," I said softly. "But the people who get close to me always manage to get hurt."

Elliot tilted his head slightly. "Listen kid, Olivia's a strong woman. She's been to hell and back, and she would put her life on the line for people she doesn't even know. Imagine what she would do for you?" He said reaching out to clamp my shoulder but I moved away from him. "I have a son around Mia's age, maybe a little younger, so I do know a few things about parenting."

"Yeah?" I snorted shaking my head. "Everyone thinks they know something about parenting, hell, I'm practically a parent. I basically raised Mia and she turned out pretty damned screwed up but at least she's breathing."

"Well then you should know," Elliot said clearing his throat. "Liv's one of the good ones, just let her take care of you. She wants to baby you and you should let her. From what I've heard you haven't had much of a childhood, so just give all of this suburban life with a little twist a chance. Alright?"

"Sure," I said nodding my head with a shrug. "I need to for Mia's sake, I don't have a job so I can't take care of her on my own. I need Olivia for Mia."

I was trying to come across as if I didn't need Olivia for myself but I knew that was utter bullshit. Everyone needs someone like Olivia in their lives. She was the caring person I never had and I was glad she was around.

"Right," Elliot said, and I knew he could tell I was bullshitting him. "Well just try to enjoy the ride kid, because you're only a kid once."

I nodded, I watched him go over to Liv and give her a quick hug before he walked off with his hands in his pockets. I could tell Liv was watching him go because she almost completely stopped pushing Mia and Noah. That guy must have been pretty darn special, but I couldn't help but think this wasn't a chance encounter. Part of me knew Liv probably planned this.


	37. Nick's Roller Coaster Only Goes Up

**Hello people, so I am back with another update. :) I'm excited for you all to read this one, I'm setting up for the next conflict, :) I hope you guys like it. Thanks for reading and reviewing. :)**

(Chapter 37)

(Nick's POV)

Sargent Dodds was dead, and Olivia wanted us to not think about it. She wanted us to pretend we didn't even know Dodds, well I wasn't sure what she really wanted but she didn't want us to be sad. So what was she doing? She was sending us to a new school.

It was one of those Catholic schools Carisi recommended to her, and I had no idea why we were going. Mia and I weren't Catholic Liv wasn't even Catholic. I guess she wanted a good influence on us but I wasn't sure about these uniforms. I felt like some 1960's school boy. My uniform was a white dress shirt with a maroon blazer, a maroon and yellow tie with long pants, and black dress shoes. Mia was wearing a skirt and her hair was held back by a head band.

Olivia had dropped us off in front of a church like building wishing us a good day, she had a hard day at the squad room ahead of her. I sighed taking my sister's hand as I marched us up to the office.

A nun was sitting at a computer acting as a secretary. She was African American with pretty green eyes, the rest of her was covered up by a nun uniform. "Good morning," she said looking at us. "You must be the new kids. Here are your schedules, everyone else is in morning mass. You can join them in first period once you have settled in."

"Thanks," I said trying not to frown as I took our schedules.

I tugged Mia along as I took her to our lockers, luckily Liv had convinced 'St. James's Catholic School' to put us next to each other. I hoped they haven't read my record it wasn't exactly what you would call squeaky clean.

"I'll see you later," I said kissing my sister's head as she headed off into her classroom.

I watched Mia walk up to the teacher, she seemed confident this time. I sighed, if Mia was willing to try and give this a shot I should try as well. Hopefully this school was better then the one we were last in. Liv had made it very clear I'm not supposed to cause any trouble because this was important and I could get into lots of trouble and even go to Juvie.

"You look like you're from the wrong side of the tracks," a male voice called behind me.

I turned to see a red haired, green eyed, boy who looked a year or two older then me. He was leaning against a locker with his arms crossed and a smirk upon his lips. He was the exact person Liv wouldn't want me to hang out with, but yet I felt drawn to him.

"You could say that," I said with a shrug of my shoulders walking over to him.

He leaned off the lockers with a grin. "What's your name, hot shot?" He asked me tilting his head.

"Nick," I said with a shrug of my shoulders. "You?"

"Zeke Gill," Zeke said with a wave of his hand. "I've read your file Nick, and it seems you have been through some shit. I'm not one to judge but I see opportunities for you." He said taking me by the shoulders.

(Olivia's POV)

I was at my desk working on some paperwork when the door to my office banged open. I looked up to see Mia racing in with a big grin on her face and a piece of paper. "Liv," she said brightly with a huge smile.

I put my glasses down and smiled at my daughter. "Hey Mia," I said as she leapt into my lap. I wasn't prepared for that. I laughed slightly. "Did you have a good day at school?"

"It was great," she chirped as she shoved a piece of paper in my face. "I made this for you."

Then without another word she raced off leaving me with a picture in my hand. She didn't even let me ask where her brother was. I sighed shaking my head, she seemed to be adjusting very well. That made me happy. I looked down at the picture, it was a picture of the squad. It was sweet, but it wasn't the thing that caught my attention it was her name. She signed the paper Mia Benson, not Mia Hart.

I couldn't help the smile that spread on my face as I put the paper on my desk, that was going on the fridge tonight. I walked out of my office to see Mia chatting it up with Carisi, I have never met someone who was better with kids then Carisi especially ones like Mia.

I did not see any sign of Nick though and a frown came to my lips. Where could my son be? That's when I saw him come through the prescient with a smile on his face as he ripped off his tie. "Hey Liv," he called to me with a wave.

"Hey Nick," I greeted him, I was excited that he was in a good mood. Maybe this Catholic school was the best thing that could happen to my kids. "How was school?"

"It was alright," Nick said showing me something that was behind his back. "I got these for you." He said showing me a boutique of roses.

I took them in complete surprise, where did he find these? Better yet, how did he even buy these? "Nick, that's so sweet." I started out the conversation. "But how were you able to get this?"

Nick grinned as if he was proud of himself. "A friend at school gave me twenty bucks for lunch but I wasn't hungry so I spent it on flowers instead." He said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Speaking of, can I go over to my friend's Zeke after school? After I walk Mia here?" 

I was thrilled he had made a friend I was so afraid that he was going to hate school but now he had a friend. I was so happy for him. "Sure Nick," I said reaching out and messing up his hair. "Just give me the-" 

"Liv, they live in our building, don't even worry about coming to get me." Nick said shaking his head.

I shook my head, that was nice Nick would have a neighbor to go hang out with. "Alright, just be home by 7, alright?"

"You got it Liv." Nick said walking off to go see his sister.

(Nick's POV)

Okay, so Zeke giving me money was a little far fetched, I mean he did give me money, but as a starting pay. He said he could get me a job, and all I had to do was listen to him. I could finally be able to get Mia nice things and start paying Liv back for everything she has done for me. Also, Zeke didn't live in the same apartment building, I just told Liv that so she wouldn't be worried.

I really wanted this to work out so I was determined to do everything Zeke needed me to. The first thing I had to do was get a gun. I almost flipped out when I heard that but Zeke said that the job is near a sketchy neighbor so the gun was only a precaution.

I knew where Liv kept her spare gun so when she was asleep I snuck into her room and got it. I would put it back before she even noticed it was gone but I needed it. Zeke saw something in me, something that he says could make me really successful, no one has really told me that before. I had to do this, if the starting pay was already twenty bucks an hour, imagine what I could do with the highest pay?

I put the gun in the back pack Liv gave me to carry my books in for school, we went to the store after she finished her paperwork. I could not screw tomorrow up.


	38. Nick's Job

(Chapter 38)

(Nick's POV)

I raced Mia to the prescient and without even watching her get into the building I started sprinting back to the school. Zeke was going to take me to where I was going to be working and I was really excited. I could finally do something with my life instead of being a victim.

Zeke was just exiting the building when I stopped in front of him panting. "Hey man," Zeke said holding out his hand and pulling me into a guy hug. "Let's go, we don't want to be late."

"Yeah, thanks again for this man. I can't tell you how appreciative I am." I said with a grin.

Zeke's green eyes looked at me like I was a little odd but the look in his eyes faded quickly. "Right."

Zeke took us on the subway. I've been on the subway just a couple times with Liv, but never with a friend. We then began to move through the Bronx housing projects, I frowned. Why were we here? I didn't think there was very well paying work here, at least, that's what I heard from Liv when she was muttering to herself about some case in the projects.

"Are you sure we're in the right spot?" I asked, I could hear sirens going off in my head. I should just skip and run, but maybe this could be good.

Zeke looked over at me as we crossed over into a really run down building, it was almost hidden. "Yeah, did you bring it?" He asked, and I hesitantly pulled out Liv's gun showing it to him. "Great, now let me see it."

I frowned giving it to him and then he shoved me in a back alley way near the building. "What the hell Zeke?" I yelled as I fell back, I landed in front of these burly guys.

"Zeke, this is what you've brought us?" One who was covered in tattoos with a scruffy beard barked out.

Zeke stepped over pointing the gun at me. My eyes filled with betrayal, I had been tricked and now I was in deep shit. Liv was going to kill me, I promised her I would stay out of trouble for now on. "Yeah," Zeke said handing Liv's spare gun over to one of the other guys, he was a skinny black guy. "He even brought me Mommy's gun."

I stood up with a frown on my face. "What the hell Zeke? I thought you got me a job, why would you do this to me?" I snapped at him, the only friend I have ever made betrayed me. This was just awesome.

"I did get you a job." Zeke said with a shrug of his shoulders as he took off his blazer and his tie. "This is your new family. You hate it, well tough. You're here because we need you to be. You make one wrong move I put one of your Mommy's bullets in your sister's and brother's head. You even blink wrong, I'll blow you the fuck up and send your remains to your Mommy." He snapped at me.

This was a whole other side to the guy who lent me money yesterday. I was in shock, and I had no clue what to do. I was in way over my head. "She's not my Mom." I snapped at them, it was the only thing I could think of. "And you're not my family."

"I think you're mistaken." Zeke chuckled shaking his head. "If you thought you had a choice in the matter. You don't do what I say I will kill your sister, your brother, and everyone else in your life. Right now I have someone right outside your apartment, and all it takes is one phone call and he kills baby Noah's sitter and Noah."

I had nowhere to go, I was defenseless, I fell right into a trap that I had no hope of getting out of. "What says I just won't tell my Mommy who's with the police." I scoffed rolling my eyes.

"If you want Mia to see her thirteenth birthday," Zeke spat pushing me back into the two guys who grabbed my shoulders so I couldn't flee. "You're part of a gang now dumbass, you don't get any choices. If I said lick the ground you would, because if you didn't I would kill Mia."

I couldn't help the look of panic on my face, I had no choice in this matter. It was do or die, sink or swim, and it looks like I was going to have to doggy paddle my way through this one. "What will I be doing?" I asked him.

"Thieving mostly, you're the skinniest thing around and very good at disappearing. I might need the occasional body to disappear-" 

"Woah," I said slowing him down. "I'm not killing anyone."

"You'll do as I say," Zeke growled as he turned the safety off Liv's spare gun. "Or this bullet goes in Mia's head, Noah's head, and then your head."

I bit my lip, and then I slowly nodded my head. Mia was depending on me and so was Noah. "What do I tell my foster mom?" I asked him sighing, I couldn't believe I was really doing this.

"You tell her you've gotten a job with me," Zeke said shaking his head. "And you'll be home by ten most nights so she doesn't freak and track you."

I was going to lie to Liv? How the hell was I going to lie to the Lieutenant of Manhattan SVU? Liv was going to have my ass, if I live through this and she doesn't find out. I can't believe I got recruited into a gang out of a Catholic school.

"Fine," I sighed shaking my head in defeat. "What about pay then? I'm going to have to show her something." 

"Depending on how well you do," Zeke said smiling at his buddies. "Then you'll be paid accordingly, you can keep the money we give you."

I was going to make money but just in the wrong way. "Alright."

"Also, here is a burner cell. If I need to get hold of you or vice versa, use that. My number is already programmed in and so is Marco's and Tony's." He informed me glancing at his friends.

His friends let me go and I caught the sleek black phone Zeke threw at me. "Don't let your Mommy see that. Don't want her finding out about this."

(Olivia's POV)

I came home around nine and I saw Nick sitting on the couch looking at his hands. He turned when he saw me walk into the door. "Hey Liv," he said smiling.

"Hey hon, how was going over to your friend's house?" I asked him as I sat down next to him.

"It was good," Nick said biting his lip nervously. "I got a job."

I looked at him in surprise, I would have thought he would want to stay home with Mia more. This was apart of him wanting to be independent so I was going to be supportive. It was good for him to want to go out in the world. Dr. Lindstrom said that this was very healthy for Nick to want to socialize or go out into the community.

"That's great honey," I said enthusiastically. "Where and what job did you get?"

"I got a job with my friend Zeke, this guy in the Bronx came up to us at school. He wants teens working at his book store that's opening soon." Nick informed me with a smile.

"That's great, and will you go to the job with Zeke after school?" I asked him curiously, Dr. Lindstrom had said it was good for me not to ask too many questions because it could make him antsy.

"Yeah, he's going to get me there and back to the apartment. I should be back around ten at night usually." Nick said biting his lip.

"That's really late honey, are you sure you're okay with it?" I asked him in concern, I couldn't imagine him not wanting to be home for Mia.

"I'm sure," he said getting up from where he was sitting. "I'm going to bed." 

"Alright love, I'll see you in the morning." I offered but he was already gone.

I should probably read up on teenage behaviors like not wanting to talk to parents or whatever. I just wanted to make sure there was nothing I needed to be concerned about.


	39. Mia's Milestone

(Chapter 39)

(Olivia's POV)

It had been a week since Nick had started his new job and I was a bit concerned, he kept coming back late often with soot, grime, and dirt on him. He also came back with more money then I think a book job in the Bronx would pay but every time I tried to talk to him about it, he avoided the matter completely. I was letting it go for now since he was doing so well at the moment and I didn't want to jinx it.

Everyone, including Nick, was home early today. It was only five and I was making spaghetti for dinner but with the sauce away from the noodles because Mia hated it. I had gone over her diagnosis a million times and I could see how she has High Functioning Autism, but I still didn't like her being labeled. The only good thing about the label is that she got accommodations she needed to succeed.

I was getting the salad ready when Mia came into the kitchen holding a colorful piece of paper. I looked up at her with a smile. "Hey sweetie, what's up?"

She nervously teetered back and forth. "Liv," she said glancing at Nick as he passed through the kitchen to get a drink. "I want to go to the dance."

Nick was so shocked he nearly dropped his glass. "You what?" Nick nearly screeched. "You? Go to a dance? You do realize there's going to be lots of loud noises and tons of people? Also the dance is dumb M, you don't want to go to a Spring Formal."

"Nicholas!" I chided, I was glad Mia was excited. She was often lost in her own world and seemed she never had any time for anyone else. At least I knew she knew school existed and we existed. "That's wonderful sweetie!" I gushed to her.

"Yeah," Nick snorted rolling his eyes. "it's all so wonderful until she has a melt down. You want to have a melt down in front of all of those people Mia? Do you want to embarrass yourself in front of the whole entire school?"

"Nick," I said in a clipped tone, I could see Mia beginning to get worked up.

"You think I can't do it?" Mia snapped at him angrily. "Well I can, and I'm going to show you." She snorted crossing her arms.

"Who's even going to take you to that shit hole?" Nick asked her, he ignored my glare at him for his foul language. "You certainly won't be able to get a date this close to the dance since it's only a week away, I'm not taking you, and you're not going alone."

I looked up at the ceiling as if asking for a little patience as I began to hear Mia fidget harder. "Nick, you know what, go help Noah find his pj's. I will talk with Mia about this, okay?" I asked him.

"Whatever Liv," Nick snorted with a roll of his eyes, but he did leave the room.

I had no idea what had gotten into him lately, he seemed so irritable like he could explode at any second. I was concerned and I was going to bring it up in his next session with Dr. Lindstrom as well as ask Fin what he thinks and Elliot if I can get a hold of him.

I turned to my middle child who was looking at me nervously. "I think that's a great idea my love," I said hugging her, she didn't mind physical contact all that much anymore. "But who are you going to go with me or-"

"I know who I want to go with." Mia said with a smile breaking away from my hug. "I want to go with Uncle Rafie."

My eyes widened in surprise, she wanted to go with Barba? I knew lately those two had been spending a lot of time together, and often she requested to go hang out with him then the squad room. Barba didn't mind because Mia was pretty quiet and left him alone for the most part. I knew she called him Uncle Rafie which he tolerated as well, but I didn't know she liked him all that much.

"Uncle Rafie?" I asked her curiously, I had no idea how I was going to convince Barba this was a good idea if he could even attend at all.

"Yes." Mia said nodding her head. "He is nice to me and Nick doesn't want to go with me. Fin smells weird, Carisi is too loud, and Tucker talks too much and not about what I want to talk about. Uncle Rafie is quiet, nice, and let's me have candy as well have conversations about cars with me."

I shook my head in surprise, I seriously had no idea Mia idolized grumpy old Barba all that much. I wasn't surprised she gave me reasons why she didn't want to go with any of the other prominent men in her life. I decided to ignored the behavior for now. "Are you sure the school will allow him to go with you?"

"Yes," Mia said nodding her head. "I talked to Sister Anne, she's the principal of my school, and she said Uncle Rafie could come."

I ran a hand through my hair as I turned off the stove letting the pasta sit for a second. This was a lot to take in, because Mia often forgot people were there. I shook my head. "Well, do you know what you need to do, to get Uncle Rafie to go with you?" 

"Yes," Mia said nodding her head determinedly. "I need to call him on your cellphone and ask him to the dance and then buy him flowers."

"Why the flowers?" I asked her with a slight laugh.

"Because Sister Reyna says that giving gifts like flowers makes people see that you care about them." Mia said with a shake of her head. "Can I have your phone now? I want to call Uncle Rafie."

"How about," I said taking my phone out of my pocket. "We call him together, and I put him on speaker phone so you don't have to hold it so close to your ear and it's not too loud?" I proposed, this would make Barba be on his best behavior if he knew I was listening.

"I would like that." Mia said nodding her head.

"Okay," I said with a nod of my head.

I dialed the number and we waited. Mia paced anxiously around the kitchen messing with all of the things I had for dinner. "Hello?" Barba's voice came through the other line. "What's up Olivia?"

"Nothing major _Uncle Raphie_ ," I said hinting that Mia was with me. "I just have a special someone who wants to ask you a question. And you're on speakerphone."

"Okay," Barba said and I could hear a dread filled laugh escape him.

"Uncle Raphie." Mia said trying to get his attention.

I shook my head. I have been working on answering the phone with her as well as her teachers. We've developed a whole system and this was part of it.

"Hello Mia," Barba said with a sigh. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Mia said shaking her head, she was too focused to do the whole system right now. "I want you to take me to the dance at school."

I quickly stepped in before Barba could answer. "Mia, ask it like a question. Don't demand things from people."

"Will you take me to the dance at school. I can tell you the address and the reason I want you to go is because Fin smells weird, Carisi is too loud, and Tucker talks too much about things I don't want to." Mia informed Barba.

I hid my smile behind my hand, we had a long way to go before we had this whole social thing down to a science. I was proud of her for even wanting to go to the dance.

"Oh," Barba said in shock as if he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. "Is Liv okay with this?"

"I'm fine with it." I answered into the phone.

Barba was so going to blame me for this idea later but I would have to tell him that his little friend came up with it all on her own.

"So will you go with me? It starts at 6:00 pm this Friday, but we should leave at 5:30 pm so we don't have any chance to be late. It's called the Spring Formal: A Flower Dance and it's at school."

"Um…." Barba hesitated and I was praying if he said no he would say it gently. "Okay Mia, I'm in. Have Liv text me the details."

Mia's face lit up and she jumped in excitement, that was a big milestone for her to ask someone else to go somewhere with her. Mia just did what Nick asked her most of the time and at rare times she will ask if he will take her somewhere. She handed me the phone without saying goodbye to Barba.

I put the phone to my ear. "You have quite the admirer." I chuckled as I began to prepare the kids plates.

"I guess so," Barba said with a shrug. "Will her hero not take her?" He snorted, he was referring to Nick.

"No he won't take her, so you were her next choice." I informed him with a smile. "Be flattered Barba, she doesn't usually want to interact with anyone but Nick. You have made quite the impression." 

"I should have been the first choice though, Nick's a monkey." Barba said with a teasing tone.

I rolled my eyes shaking my head. "Get some sleep Barba." I then hung up turning back to my little family.


	40. Dress To Impress

**Hello people! Sorry it took me so long to update, I have been so busy and my computer broke so I just got it back! It's been almost a year since I've started this story and I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has ever reviewed, favorited, followed, or even read my story. This has been a long project and it's not over yet! Thanks for the great year! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 40)

(Benson's POV)

I was talking with Barba while every so often glancing at Mia who was playing with her cars on the floor. She kept muttering facts under her breath, but she seemed pretty happy. Her brother was working which I was beginning to get concerned about, I was going to be talking about this bookstore clerk job with him when he came home.

The door suddenly banged open and in came Barba's mother, Lucia. "Mommy?" Barba asked in surprise seeing here.

"Rafie why did you not tell me you had a little niece and two nephews?" Lucia asked coming over to her son and hugging him.

I smiled softly, I was the one to inform Lucia about the dance because I could not take Mia dress shopping like I wanted to and I asked her to do it for me. I just assumed Barba talked about Mia, Nick, and Noah since they were around so much.

"Mommy, they're Liv's kids. I just am in the picture." Barba said blushing in embarrassment.

Mia looked up from her cars and stood up walking over Barba and Lucia. I watched her as she held her car in her hands. "You're Uncle Rafie's Mom." Mia informed us all. "You smell weird and you have weird hair."

I mentally face palmed we were working on a filter with her. "Mia," I chided her. As you could see, it wasn't sticking all that well.

"It's okay Olivia." Lucia said smiling down at Mia who was frowning at her and Barba who looked extremely uncomfortable. "You must be Mia, you can call me Tia, it's short for Abuelita."

"Mommy, she's not even my child," Barba said shaking his head.

"Well, this is as close as you're going to get to having a child at this point so we're adopting her as our own. And I'm going to spoil her rotten." Lucia said reaching out to touch Mia's nose but she swatted her away.

"You're not supposed to touch people you do not know." Mia informed her and I hid my smile behind my hand. "And what do you mean by 'spoil her rotten' I am not a food item."

"It's a figure of speech." Barba informed Mia. "It means she's going to buy you things."

"Oh," Mia said in understanding nodding her head. "Are you going to buy me a car because if you do-"

"Mia, love, she's not going to buy you a car." I laughed slightly and so did Lucia, and I could tell that made even Barba smile. "She's going to take you shopping for a dress so you're ready to go to the dance with Uncle Rafie, remember?"

Mia nodded her head a smile appearing on her face. "Yes I remember. He's coming over at 5:30 on Friday so we can get to the dance by 6:00 because that's when it starts." She said nodding her head.

"Here," I said handing Lucia some money. "This should cover whatever dress she decides."

"Olivia, don't worry about it," Lucia said firmly placing the money back into my hands. "I would love to buy her a dress, it's something I never got to do with Rafie."

"I insist, if you don't want to use it for the dress use it on food. This one will see something she can't live without and have to try it." I said ruffling Mia's hair who rolled her eyes at me.

"Bye Liv, I'll be good. Tell Nick not to wait up!" Mia called flouncing out of the room with Lucia and Barba behind her.

I sighed sitting down and I began working on my paperwork. I was sad I couldn't take Mia dressing shopping myself, I always wanted a little girl to take shopping. I never thought Mia would even be interested, she was so focused on cars and mechanics. I shook my head as I checked boxes and wrote out notes.

A few minutest later there was a knock on my open door, I looked up sliding off my glasses. It was Rollins, she seemed a little concerned. "Liv, Maxine Moore is here, the girl who was locked up with Nick? She refuses to speak with anyone but you."

I sat up straighter, this was important. "Send her in." I said nodding my head as I cleared some of the paperwork.

A moment later the now short dark haired girl came into the room. She seemed a bit nervous so I gave her a small smile. "Maxine, what can I do for you?" I asked her gesturing for her to sit.

"Lieutenant Benson it's about Nick," Maxine said biting her lip. "And something he's involved in."

I frowned, what did Nick get into this time? "Go on." I said nodding my head.

Maxine tucked her hair behind her ear, her blue eyes were filled with distrust. "Well, my group home is in the Bronx in a not so nice part. I was walking home from school one day when I saw Nick and he was…he was robbing this lady with a gun pointed to his head and he was pointing one to hers. This red headed boy kept screaming 'rob her Nicky, rob her or I blow you and little Mia up'" Maxine said unable to look up. "I came straight to you, this happened an hour ago."

I sat in a bit of shock, was Nick with a gang? The wrong crowd? And why did Nick have a gun? Unless…oh God, he stole my spare gun. I didn't even know he knew about that. "You did the right thing Maxine. I'm glad you came to me." I said trying to keep professional. "Could you tell if they were part of a gang?"

"Yes," Maxine said without hesitation nodding her head. "They're a new gang, all the kids in the Bronx are warned about them. They lure vulnerable kids or kids who need money in and threaten them into working for them. They're called Blue, it's a dumb name but they're bad people"

"And you're sure about this gang, 'Blue', that Nick is involved with them?" I asked her.

"Yes," Maxine said nodding her head confidently. "For sure, I recognize them from anywhere. There's Tony, Marco, and Zeke, well who Nick's with anyway. The gang is pretty big so I know there is more then just those three."

I sighed shaking my head, what was I going to do? When things seemed to be okay, it all went south. "Thank you Maxine, I will deal with this. Do you need a ride home?"

"No," Maxine said shaking her head. "Blake got his license so he's going to take me home."

I showed Maxine out when Fin came up to me. "Olivia, Nick just got arrested."


	41. You Did The Crime So You Do The Time

**Hey lolamay101 here! I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN FOREVER I AM SO SORRY! I have been so swamped with school and I finally found time to hammer out a chapter. I hope you guys enjoy and I'll hopefully will see you all on the next one! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 41)

(Nick's POV)

"I want a lawyer," I snapped as I was hauled into interrogation. One good thing about having a foster mother who was a cop you knew whenever you were in trouble to say the magic word.

"You'll get your lawyer," Detective Wilde snapped at me as he cuffed me to the interrogation table before sitting across from me.

Detective Wilde was with the gang unit apparently. He was a blonde hair blue eyed brute that I could already tell hated me. His lips were set in a frown and he folded his hands on the table. He seemed pissed at me, even though he didn't even know me. Sure, he caught me robbing someone at gun point but I was at gun point too.

There was a knock on the glass and Wilde smirked. "You have a visitor."

The door opened and in walked Olivia, she had a frown on her face and her eyes filled with worry and disappointment. I wanted to crawl under the desk and stay there, I hated that I brought that look on Olivia's face. I felt shame burn through my body as I forced myself to sit up straight as Olivia sat where Wilde was who left the room.

"What happened Nick?" Liv asked me softly, her brown eyes filled with concern. "Why are you also bruised up?"

"It's nothing," I muttered looking down at the table in shame. She was probably so mad at me.

"Nick, don't lie. I know you were in a gang and you were held at gun point. You're not in trouble, but I had them detain you so we could talk about this." Olivia said gently reaching across the table to hold my hands but I flinched away from her. "I want to know why you didn't come to me. I'm a cop Nick, I could have helped you."

I racked my brain for a way to tell her without telling her the truth. I can't tell her or Mia, Noah, and everyone else in my life are as good as dead. So, I went for the most basic response ever, I shrugged my shoulders. I played with my cuffs trying not to give her a response.

"Nick, come on. You have to give me something, I can't help you unless you do that. If you don't the gang unit will interview you like they do ex-con men and ex-gang members and I don't want you to have to go through that." Olivia said looking into my eyes. "I promised you I would get a normal life for you, that you wouldn't have to fear anything anymore and I'm going to keep my promise."

"If I tell you anything Mia's dead, Noah's dead, your dead, everyone dies!" I laughed humorlessly shaking my head. "What you don't get Lieutenant Olivia Benson is that this is so much bigger then me and my sister anymore. I have people who fucking care about me and because of who I am I'm going to get you all killed. I used to be a nobody! No one even knew me and my sister were truly missing. We had a shit case worker and a shit foster home, so we ended up in a very bad situation. Now, we finally have a good situation, I have to go fuck it up again." I laughed shaking my head in shame.

"Nick, listen, nothing is going to happen to me, Mia, Noah, or anyone else." She said grabbing my hands firmly as she forced me to look her in the eyes. "I'm going to protect you, the squad is going to protect you, we-"

"You're not getting it!" I cried in pure helplessness. I shook my head trying to keep my hair from falling into my eyes. "No one can protect me but me! I am what's standing between me and my home life and me and the life I got swept up in." I shook my head because I could feel myself losing control on what I was saying. I was too emotional. "I didn't even know I was joining a gang! I was told I was getting a job and the Bronx was dangerous so I had to bring a gun!"

"And you stole mine." Olivia said shaking her head, she was not happy with me. "I'm not happy about that, but we can talk about the consequences for that later."

Consequences? What consequences? She wouldn't hurt me, it would probably be something stupid. I could focus on the task at hand. "So then my friend, well he's no friend, Zeke and a couple of his buddies told me if I didn't help them then Mia and Noah would die. They said they knew where we live! What was I supposed to do? Take a chance that they're lying and have the blood of my sister and my foster brother on my hands?" I said shaking my head. Why was I talking? I needed to shut up.

"You come to me, you yell for help. You don't go along and join a gang Nick!" Olivia exasperated. "Do you know why keep getting stuck in this viscous cycle of messes? It's because you can't shake your survival instincts. Nick, you have to understand you're beyond the point of survival. You can breathe, people pick you for gangs, wrong crowds, ect. because you let yourself be vulnerable."

I laughed, she just pissed me off. Sometimes, Olivia really did not get it. She was a great person but it has been a long time since she was my age. "So, wait, you're saying this is all my fault?" Why would she think it's okay to say that?

"No, that's not what I'm saying." Olivia said quickly with a sigh as if she was trying to find some patience in dealing with me. "What I'm saying is that you need to be careful on how you present yourself. I need you to actually try to get involved this time, okay?"

"So you are blaming me!" I snapped shaking my head. "I knew this was bound to happen. Whenever me or Mia-"

"Don't drag your sister in this, one. She has nothing to do with this situation" Olivia said shaking her head at me in frustration. "And two, this is not your fault. What is your fault, are the choices you made. Instead of trusting me, a police officer, to take care of a dangerous situation you took it into your own hands. Instead of asking for help, you took my gun without my knowledge which is an NYPD registered gun by the way, and you're lucky I'm with the NYPD or you would have been charged with holding and concealing a police officer's gun." Olivia said, her eyes never leaving mine. I could feel the guilt start to seep in. "And that's just the beginning of the long list of infractions."

"Okay, so this is not my fault but it is my fault?" I asked her in irritable confusion.

"In a sense, yes." Olivia shook her head. "It's not your fault by being tricked into a gang, I should have seen the signs earlier so I should have dealt with that myself. What is your fault, are the choices you made before hand and after the fact. You should have come straight to me, I am so much more capable and much more equip then those thugs you were running around with."

I shook my head trying not to squirm in my seat, I felt super bad for what I 'chose' to do. I should have known better because Olivia has dealt with people a lot tougher then the stupidly named Blue's. To say I was in deep shit, would be an understatement. I was drowning in deep shit.

"I'm sorry I screwed up." I sighed shaking my head. "I should have just come to you and I realize that now. Can we go home?" I asked her biting my lip.

Olivia stood up going around and unlocking my handcuffs before nodding. "Yes, and we are going to talk about everything when we get home in much more detail. You're good to go, only because you were considered a hostage. You are lucky in a way."

"Yay me," I grumbled as I rubbed my wrists before turning and leading the way out the door.

When I got out, Zeke was there being taken somewhere in cuffs. He turned to me. "You talked and nino, that was a big mistake." The red head smirked as he was forced out.

"Ignore him." Olivia said as we exited the building. I also tried to ignore the sinking feeling that filled my stomach at his words. I knew this was probably not the last I would be seeing of Zeke.

Olivia and I took a cab home, Mia and Noah were already in bed. I felt bad, I hadn't been around so much for Mia. I brought her little gifts home but I don't think that that was enough. I can't get back the time I spent running around with a bunch of thugs. I felt the shame of being something I vowed not to be fill up my body.

I sat down at the kitchen table across from Olivia. I tapped my fingers on the table as I waited for her to speak. I know Olivia would never hurt me, but still the feeling of dread and fear still filled me up.

Olivia had a very serious expression on her face as she began speaking. "Nick, I'm very upset and disappointed in you for the choices you made. You put not only Mia in more danger but everyone at school and others in the community in danger. You mugged people, not by choice I know, but after the first day at gun point you continued to do so!"

I looked down guiltily, she was right about all these things. I made all of these choices. "I know, and I'm sorry. I'm going to do better this time! Really, I'm going to try Liv!" I said looking up at her and she sighed, I could tell she felt a little bad.

"I don't take any pleasure in punishing you Nick, but I have to. It's for your own good and safety." Olivia ran a hand through her hair. "Instead of getting the privilege of coming straight home after you drop Mia off at the station, you will come straight to the station and stay in my sight or one of my co-worker's sights at all times. You have proven that you can't act like a responsible teenager but like a small child so I'm going to treat you like one."

I crossed my arms trying to wipe the look of annoyance off of my face because I knew it would only make things worse on me. "Okay."

"You have also proven that you can't go to school and make good choices so you don't get that privilege either." Olivia said and I couldn't help the sly smirk that came over my face. I hated school anyway, no work sounded great to me. Olivia saw my face and shook her head. "Oh, you're still going to school, just in the squad room on the computer until further notice. So I guess the straight to the station rule will happen later when you get to go to actual school."

I had to hide the groan that was threatening to come out of me. I simply nodded my head as I processed this.

"When we come home you are going to sleep on the air mattress in my room and the door to your room will be taken off. You can do homework or spend time in your room during the day, but at night you will sleep where I can see you." She said watching me as my face contorted into one of annoyance. "I'm sorry, but this is the way it's going to have to be. You did the crime so you are going to do the time."

I muttered something under my breath in annoyance which if Olivia noticed she didn't say.

"Lastly, your grades are going to be closely monitored and you are going to spend a lot of time with Barba going over which laws you have broken. You will also be doing an online program on stranger danger, violence, gangs, ect. to educate you on what could have happened." Olivia said. "I hate that we've had to get to this point where I can't trust you Nick, but we've only gotten there because you have taken us there."

"How can I earn these things….back?" I asked her, I already hated this and it wasn't even day one yet.

"By showing me that you are trying, and once you go back to school. I want you to get involved in ONE or more extra-curricular school activity if that means a sport or a club I don't care. I need you doing something though."

"Got it," I groaned, I hated this. I surprisingly didn't hate Liv though, I mean, I did do all of the things she said. She also gave me a reason why each thing was taken away so I could understand, I think she was fair.

"Come on, I've laid out pj's for you on the air mattress I had Tucker blow up while we were at the station. Don't worry about a shower tonight. Just get dressed and let's get some sleep." She said standing up.

"Okay, that sounds good." I said nodding my head.

Olivia wrapped her arms around me. "I'm glad you're okay, I don't think I could live with myself knowing that I let something happen to you under my watch."

I blinked as she let me go. She really did care in a strange way. She was giving me boundaries and stuff, I think that's a good thing. Maybe, maybe I might be able to pull it together.


	42. Angry Words

**Hello people! So the next chapter is out for you all to read! Hope you like it! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 42)

(Olivia's POV)

I watched from a distance as Nick boredly stared at the computer screen, he had drool coming out of his mouth and his hair kept getting into his eyes. I sighed, I was so upset with him still but at least he didn't put up a fight about all I had put into place since it was for his own good. It was only day one of our new system and I could tell that this sort of acceptance because he was in shock phase was not going to last long. He would start fighting me on it and I would have to stand my ground. I just wish he wouldn't do stupid things.

Mia on the other hand, was exceling. She was exceeding everyone's expectations and her knack of knowing how many cars were in Manhattan and how many different types of cars there were out there was incredible. She was off the charts smart but just not socially there. While her brother, although very smart, was smart socially but not when it came to school work. He could careless about who was our first president or a book or science or anything else in school. All he cared about it seems was leaving and forgetting.

Mia and Nick dealt with grief and trauma very differently, while Mia melted into structure and loved having a stable home and life. Nick acted out, he was very self destructive and not always was the self destruction his fault but he let himself spiral. He would just do stupid shit just to do it, it's almost like he would reach out and touch fire even though he knows it will probably burn him. I think that's why Nick and Mia got along so well, Mia was what I would call the submissive part of the relationship while Nick was the dominate. They were literally the perfect storm, and I'm afraid one day Nick is going to get Mia and himself into something he can't get them out of. That's why it's better to nip this now before it gets any worse.

I looked over at Barba who was arguing with Carisi over something about his testimony for our latest case. I sighed as I watch Barba come over to me, I quickly flicked my eyes over to Nick who had fallen asleep on his computer. I shook my head leaving Barba standing there as I went over and gently shook Nick's shoulders.

"Nick, honey, wake up." I said gently trying not to scare him.

Nick jerked awake, he wiped the drool from his face, he blinked at me through his golden eyes. "I'm awake!" He announced turning back to his computer.

"Nick, if you want to go back to school I have to know you are going to stay awake and work. That's part of school and sometimes it can be boring. Also," I said clicking on one of the videos he was trying to sneak in. "You can't get off task. I want you giving 100% not just whatever percentage you're giving me right now."

He was a mess, Nick truly was. I had to somehow get him together so he could be a young functioning adult. He had two years before he was an adult and that may seem like a long time but for someone as traumatized as Nick, progress like that would seem like only maybe a month at most. He needed more time and I had to convince him that this was the right thing.

"I am trying." Nick grumbled as he clicked out of Youtube and back fully onto his online program I set up with his school. "It's just as boring as hell."

"Well try and show me you can handle online school and we'll talk about public school when you prove that." I said walking away from him.

I ran a hand through my hair as I walked over over to Barba and Fin who were watching me with what looked like an amused expression. "Do you think I was too hard on him?" I asked them, mainly looking at Fin.

"Nah Liv, if it was my son acting out like Nick is I would have done a lot worse. You're helping him get it together." Fin said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"For once I agree with Fin." Barba commented looking over at Nick who was typing in his answers on his online program. "He needs this structure. When I was his age, I ran around like a hooligan. I can't get him out of anymore of these 'situations' it already looks bad enough that you are keeping them."

"They need someone stable to take care of them and now Mia has her official diagnosis no foster home will have a desire to house a special needs child. I am their best option." I said watching my foster son who looked like he was about to die of boredom.

(Mia's POV)

 _It was weird not going to school with Nick and a break in my routine. Liv promised that either Barba or herself would come and pick me up from school. I was having a good day, I got to draw a picture of a car and my teacher told me that if I colored it she would put it up in the room. That was a good thing, at least that's what she said._

 _I walked to the bathroom where these girls were waiting. They had been bothering me lately but I didn't want Liv or Nick to worry so I didn't tell anyone. I wanted to be tough like my big brother but it was really hard when these girls were picking on me. Their names were Kady, Krystal, and Kaylee, I found it funny all of their names started with the same letter. I wasn't supposed to share things like that because my teacher says it sounds weird._

 _The three blondes turned over to me, and Krystal who tells all of them what to do smirked at me. "Well, well, isn't it the little freak?" She sneered at me._

 _I simply didn't make eye contact as I belined for a stall but Krystal's friends cut me off before I could. "I just need to use the bathroom." I said looking down at the floor and wringing my hands._

" _Oh, you do?" Krystal asked me, her voice filled with what Nick would call sarcasm but in this case I didn't catch it._

" _Yeah! That's why I'm here." I said trying to use my 'friendly' skills as Liv called them._

 _My 'friendly' skills were when I looked up when someone was talking to me and let them say what they want to say before I say anything. I also had to answer questions nicely and not turn it back onto cars which I really liked to do._

" _Oh, well you can use the bathroom." She smirked at me._

"And that's what happened!" I screamed at Liv as she tried to calm me down and dry me off as best she could.

"Mia, why didn't you tell me about these girls before?" Olivia asked me as we walked into the station.

"I ALREADY TOLD YOU!" I screamed, when I get really upset my body gets all hot and it feels like I'm on fire. I also cry a lot because it makes me feel better.

I threw myself on the floor trying to get rid of the firey feeling that was filling up my body. I thrashed about trying to calm myself down but just ended up doing more damage.

"I need you to breathe." Said a familiar male voice. Nick, he was here, this was good he knew how to make me feel better. "I need you to calm down so you don't hurt me or someone else."

I just cried, I often lose the ability to respond when I get really upset. I still heard and understand everything everyone says it's just hard for my brain to let me act on what they were saying.

Nick held me in his lap, he squeezed me tightly so I couldn't do anything bad. He hummed the melody he always hummed to calm me down. It always made me feel better because it was familiar. I liked things that were familiar. If everything could be exactly the same I would be really happy.

Nick muttered some angry words to Liv that I was too busy calming down to even desire to hear or understand. I just simply breathed the way Nick wanted me to and looked at him. His golden eyes looked at me gently, he always looked at me gently. He then kissed my head. "See? All better now. Why don't you go play with your cars in Liv's office?" He said it, in his 'no is not acceptable' voice.

I nodded my head going into her office like I was told. I hope he wasn't too mean to Liv, she doesn't mean to work me up but sometimes she does.


	43. Two Steps Forward And One Step Back

**Hello people, lolamay101 here! So I dived into a little more of Mia's and Nick's past in this chapter since I haven't really explored in in detail so this chapter is a little darker because of the flash back. It's nothing graphic or anything just intense. So, my plan is through the next few chapters to look at Mia's and Nick's past in some more detail to give more insight into them. Thanks for reading! ALSO THANK YOU FOR 15,500 VIEWS THAT'S INSANE! THAT'S THE MOST VIEWS I HAVE GOTTEN ON ONE OF MY STORIES EVER! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Enjoy! Sorry about the long message! lolamay101**

(Chapter 43)

(Nick's POV)

I was gently hitting my head against the wall in the break room where I was supposed to be doing school but I was bored as hell. Olivia had found a way (with help from some tech person in the department) to block Youtube and all of the other sites that I could get on that weren't school related. There was nothing to do but stare at a screen.

Olivia was in her office while the squad moved about the room leaving me alone. I was so bored and I was looking for trouble. I sighed, I left the room where a perp was hanging around in the cell next to me.

He was African America, tall, and had dark brown eyes. His face formed a smirk when he saw me and I felt my blood run cold. I though I escaped that life, but whenever there was a perp they had something to do with my past. Especially those in trafficking rings and I recognized this guy from a party I was 'working'.

 _The room was dark except for the lights that kept going off every few seconds changing colors. The club the ring had brought Mia and I to was in the middle of nowhere, I didn't know where I was or what was going on. I was too doped up anyway, that week I had gotten free from my cuffs and was working on Mia's when one of the older boys, who worked for the ring now, called down the leaders. That was the first time I had ever been chained in a dog crate as well as drugged as much as possible. They shot me full of anything they could find, and then some._

 _So, for me, the room was spinning and the noise was loud. I could feel my heart beat and I felt like I was in a dream. One of the leaders of the trafficking ring I was in, a woman with short, choppy dark hair and green eyes, grabbed me by the hair and whispered a command in my ear. I numbly nodded as I began to dance like the trained monkey I was._

 _I heard the whistles of the patrons as I was the only one left on the stage, at fourteen I wasn't sure what to think. I just kept dancing knowing if I kept dancing I wouldn't get hit, I wouldn't be force fed drugs and liquor, and I would be only put in the dog crate not chained. I was trained to fall orders and to find a way to survive._

 _I looked across the club out of habit as I finished the dancing part of my night to see Mia with tear streaks down her face and her clothes disheveled as a tall African American man led her to the back. That's where patrons, if they paid the right price, could have some time alone with us. I felt the fear rush into me like the Great Damn had been released, I had protected Mia the best I could by trying to keep her from getting too much attention so the patrons wouldn't show an interest in her, they wouldn't pay for her, and she could maybe get some of that innocence back._

" _No," I whispered to myself as I fled the stage after the song ended._

 _In my head I knew there had to be someway to save her, offer myself up instead. That usually worked, as long as the patrons had someone to touch and to mess with they a lot of times let Mia go or made her watch. I could handle her watching since it was better then her having to experience it for herself. There was no good situation there was only one that was not so bad._

 _I ran as best as I could, using the wall to help me balance since the new dose of drugs were hitting their peak. I breathed in as the background began to fade and it was just me and the distance between the man and Mia. I could see them close in sight, I just had a few more steps until I reach them._

 _I forced myself to stumble quickly/run in front of Mia and the man, I held my little sister tightly as she cried into my chest. The man raised an irritable brow. "Take me," I managed to breathe out. "I have so much more experience than she does. Don't you want to see what I can do?" I asked him, I was half assing it, not even on purpose but because I was so drugged up._

" _You want to come back with me boy?" The man rasped out, he wasn't even that old maybe his late twenties at most. I could tell he was a smoker because of the rasp in his voice and the light yellowing of his teeth._

" _Yes sir." I said trying to give him a smile but it came out more as a small grimace._

" _Nick," Mia sobbed holding onto me for dear life. "Don't make me go with him, he's mean I don't like him."_

" _I'll show you mean little Mia." The man sneered trying to yank Mia from my arms._

 _I held onto my sister tighter as she let out a terrified screech., I had to protect her. Mia was all I had. "Sir, please, I can make the money worth your while. She's not worth it."_

" _Your name is Nick, boy?" The man asked me and I nodded my head hard taking a step back with Mia. "Well, Nick, I paid for a 10-year-old girl and she's a ten-year-old girl. So little Mia is coming with Fallen."  
_

 _I held Mia tighter as I put my back to him so I could keep Mia on the inside of my body. I had to protect Mia even if it meant I got hurt in the process. The man, Fallen, grabbed me hard trying to yank me away but I held Mia so tight I made her cry out._

" _Let her go! She's mine!" Fallen snapped into my ear._

" _No way," I growled as Mia cried hysterically._

" _No, no, no!" Mia sobbed digging her nails into my arm as I held on._

 _We were like a team of pain, both of us giving as much as we were taking. "Let her go Nicholas!" The leader with the choppy hair, Loronda growled into my ear._

" _No!" I shouted my voice cracking a little since I was in the middle of getting my voice change._

 _Painful hands pried me away from my sister, I was restrained by two bouncers and Loronda as I listened to my sister's cries. "NICK! NICK! DON'T LET HIM TAKE ME!" I listened to her screams until she was locked into a room with that monster._

 _That was the night I got one of the worst beating of my life and Mia was raped for not the first time in her life._

I snapped out of my memory as I stared at an older Fallen. His name was still burned in my memory even after two years. I felt the anger bubble over. "Hello boy," Fallen said his voice still rasping. "What's your name?"

He really did not remember did he? That's what made me even more pissed, he put another scar on my sister's body yet he didn't remember giving her that scar.

"You don't remember me Fallen?" I sneered at him as I grabbed the keys to the cell. We were about to have a little chat.

"Have we met?" Fallen licked his lips as he stared me down. "I must have been drunk if we've had. You're a little on the older side but I don't mind that."

"You don't remember my little sister screaming and begging for you not to take her away? Or the way I fought so hard to protect her?" I asked him as my rage grew. I was about to beat the shit out of him.

Fallen's eyes lit up in recognition. "My, my, Nicholas Hart one of the famous Hart siblings, I heard you brought the whole trafficking world down in New York but I didn't think you were working with the NYPD. How the mighty of fallen."

I rolled my eyes in annoyance, he was not going to win this one. "I got my own way out." I said simply.

"There's such a nice price on your head and that little freak sister of yours. I must say, she was excellent."

That was all it took for me as I unlocked the cell door, it was a small cell so he would have nowhere to go and vice versa, and slammed the door shut. "You don't have a right to talk about my sister." I said taking a swing at me but he caught my fist.

"Nice try," Fallen laughed softly as he punched me hard in the face. I felt my nose begin to let blood flow out. "You always were weak."

"Not this time!" I growled as I kicked him in the side sending him reeling back into the bench.

He was on his feet in seconds as he knocked me into the side of the cell making it rattle. He pinned me there driving his fists into me over and again. I let out a cry of agony trying to take it as I tried to find a way out but it was too late for that. The cell door slammed open as Fin and Liv came into the cell with Carisi and Rollins waiting outside.

Fin pulled Fallen off of me as Liv gently but forcefully guided me out of the cell.

"One day Nicky your little police force won't be around to protect you or that little skank and when that day comes I'll be there ready to finish what I started." He yelled after me as Olivia rushed me into her office.

I punched the wall as Liv shut the door and locked it. She then turned to me. "Calm down, I can't have you destroy the squad room. You're also injured, you need to sit."

"That pervert is going to hurt Mia and I again. I can't sit when he's right here!" I growled as I paced the room crossly.

Liv sighed as if deciding to try a different approach. "Why were you in that cell in the first place you were supposed to be doing school."

"I was taking a break when I saw him. He pissed me off and I wanted to teach him a lesson." I said wincing as I finally felt the pain that was flooding my body. I sat down in Olivia's office chair. "They keys weren't that hard to get to."

"Nick," Olivia sighed as if trying to find the right words to say. "You can't go and fly off the handle like that. You have to come get me if something happens and you can't mess with keys or take things that don't belong to you." She said pinching the bridge of her nose. "How did he even piss you off?"

"We have a history," I said simply, and Olivia gave me a pointed look. "He raped Mia when she was ten and I was fourteen. He wouldn't let me take her place and just….raped her. I got a really bad beating that included being burned, tortured, raped, and all sorts of other crap. Just because I tried to save my own sister. To say I hate him would be an understatement."

"Nick, we can still prosecute him for raping Mia, it would actually make our case stronger. But what you have to realize is that one you are not judge, jury, and executioner. That is street mentality, that's not how we do things here and I think you know that. Two, Mia has been doing really well and I'm not sure you want to throw her back in that world."

"So are you saying that there's no chance that this guy will go down for raping Mia?" I asked her my eyes narrowing at her. 

"No, that's not what I'm saying Nick. What I'm saying is that you are going to have to make a choice about if you want Mia to testify or not. If she doesn't testify the judge will probably dismiss her testimony. So you have to choose, put her through a trial and get justice or just let her keep thriving and moving on."

I ran a hand through my dark brown hair. We had come this far, what was the harm of getting rid of one more rapist. "She'll testify and I will if needed." I told Liv nodding my head firmly.

Liv sighed nodding her head. "I had a feeling you would say that but I thought you should have your own choice, don't make me regret it. Let's go get you cleaned up and looked at, and you need to stay away from him until he goes to Central Booking."

"Yeah, yeah." I groaned standing up forcing myself to move forward.


	44. Dancing Through Life

**Sorry this took me forever! -lolamay101**

(Chapter 44)

(Olivia's POV)

Nick and I had decided to wait to tell Mia about maybe having to testify so she could enjoy her dance. At the moment Rollins, Maxine who had been in contact with me a lot lately, Beth, and I were trying to get Mia ready but it was a challenge. She swatted our hands away when we tried to do her hair or make up. We had managed to get her into the dress her and Barba's Mom bought and that was a miracle in itself.

"Mia please," Maxine sighed from next to me as she tried to fix up the squirming twelve-year old.

"It's uncomfortable!" Mia whined at me.

I smiled slightly, I knew when to let Mia win her battles even though she talked for a couple of weeks about the makeup she wanted. "Well, would you like us to stop."

Mia thought about it for a second before nodding her head. "Yes, can you do my hair?" Mia asked us.

I smiled, she asked it like a question instead of commanding it. That was progress. "I think we can do that, can we girls?" I asked turning to the poor souls I dragged in to help me get Mia ready. They nodded smiling gently. "Thank you for asking Mia."

Maxine and Beth went into the kitchen when I heard a screech. I groaned, what now? "Can you finish up?" I asked Rollins as Mia went into a whole spew about some Chevy she saw on TV the other day.

"Yeah, do I reply to the car talk or tune her out?" Rollins chuckled uncomfortably as she smoothed out Mia's hair.

"Either way, she's not going to care. She's just going to keep talking." I chuckled with a shrug going into the kitchen.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I got in there. Standing in my kitchen was a shirtless teenager and a shirtless toddler as well as two screaming and giggling teenage girls as my boys chased them around the kitchen with wet dish towels.

I watched as Nick tackled Maxine to the ground and began to tickle her sides. "Nick!" She squealed trying to get away.

"Come on Maxi! Lighten up! Smile for once!" Nick laughed as he continued to tickle her.

I smiled gently, Maxine and Nick had been spending a lot of time together. They were doing online school together now since Nick was bored out of his brains and Maxine was too. They both couldn't handle public school for one reason or another so the past few days Maxine had been with Nick a lot. They also emailed each other when they weren't doing school, he was a teenager so I wasn't going to pry and Maxine was a good kid.

"Stop it!" Maxine said shoving him off of her. "And put on a shirt!" She said hitting his chest.

I tried not to look at the scars that lined his chest from all of the abuse. The word MINE had faded into a scar but Nick didn't seem to mind it. I think it just broke my heart as his Mom.

"What's going on in here?" I asked picking Noah from the floor as I relieved Beth from her attacker.

"Ask your son!" Maxine said shaking her head as Nick trapped her in his arms and messed up her hair. "Stop it!" Maxine whined breaking away from him.

I looked at Nick with a questioning look in my eyes, I was glad he was having a good time though. It was the first time in awhile that he had a smile on his face that he was joking around. It made me feel like I was doing something right for him.

"One, I'm her foster son." Nick said shaking his head at Maxine.

I sighed silently I wished he wouldn't think like that. He was so much more then just my foster son he was my son. He was part of my family and I wanted to make it official but the process was long and tedious. I had started it but there was so much work to be done and so little time. I had no clue how I was going to get it done and win Nick's complete favor all at the same time.

"And two," Nick said turning to me. "Noah wanted to know how to impress and mess with some girls so I told him I could teach him some tips." Nick winked at my youngest son.

"Oh, Noah did?" I questioned looking at my youngest and then back to my oldest who was standing there and grinning innocently.

"Yeah, he was really curious." Nick informed with a laugh. "So, I told him the best way was to just mess with them and they'll be impressed at our skills?"

"I'm not impressed." Maxine butted in with a roll of her eyes.

Nick simply smiled and tackled her gently to the ground and tickled her gently. "Impressed now?"

"Alright, that's enough." I chuckled as I shifted Noah in my arms. "Let Maxine up."

Nick laughed as he let a huffing and fake annoyed Maxine up. She flipped her hair in his face as she walked back over to Beth. I shook my head, those two needed to stop flirting so hard. It was almost intoxicating.

The door bell rang, I sighed as I walked over and opened the door. Standing at my door was Barba in a suit with a tie around his neck and a red rose with no thorns in his hand. I held back a laugh at his expression when I stepped to let him into the house. "Wow Barba, you look…nice."

"Thank you, I know. Where's Mia?" Barba asked me as he gazed around the apartment.

"Nick!" I yelled for my foster son who came skittering into the room. "Hang out with Barba as I go find Mia."

Nick smirked at me. "With pleasure."

"That doesn't mean plot his death, that means be nice and hang out with him." I snorted with a roll of my eyes knowing where his mind was going. "I'll be back after I make sure Mia is alright."

I walked away leaving Barba to awkwardly stand there and argue with Nick about whatever came to mind. I went into my bathroom where Rollins was putting the finishing touches on Mia. I smiled, she looked so beautiful in the green dress that matched her eyes. She had dark curls that went a little past her shoulders, I watched as Mia nervously smoothed out her dress. "You look so beautiful," I gushed to her.

"Thank you?" Mia said not sure how to take that comment, she had probably heard that comment a lot. From men, women, abusers, you name it.

"I mean you look really nice Mia." I explained to her in a patient voice.

"Oh, well thanks," Mia said with a shrug leaving the bathroom.

I looked at Rollins who smiled at me in amusement, we both knew Mia had a long way to go before she was socially up to date with everyone else.

I walked out of the bathroom with Mia and steered her towards the front door where Barba was waiting with Nick. The two were in a heated debate but quickly hushed when they saw Mia. Nick's eyes got so big in shock and amazement I though they were going to pop out of his head. "Mia….you are….wow." He breathed unable to fathom that his sister looked like she did.

Barba held out the rose for Mia. "You look very nice Mia?" He frowned as if he wasn't too sure what to do either. "Here, I got this for you. It's chocolate. You can eat it."

Mia nodded her head but a look from a Nick made her mutter a "thank you" and step back. I watched as she fiddled with her dress nervously. I made her pose with Barba for a few pictures before it was time for them to leave.

"If you get her hurt, I don't care if you're the ADA or not I will spill your guts on this floor." Nick said looking Barba in the eyes with a very intense gaze.

"Nick can it." Mia groaned as she flounced out the door. "I can take care of myself."

"Like hell you can!" Nick barked after her before he turned back to an amused Barba. "Do you understand me."

"You're a good brother Nick," Barba said with a shrug before leaving the apartment and shutting the door behind him.

Later, after everyone was gone except for me, Noah, and Nick I turned to my oldest son. "You and Maxine huh?"

He turned to me with a brow crooked in my direction. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you like her? Like, like her?" I asked him and his ear immediately turned pink.

He looked away from me as if he was trying to avoid me completely. "I'm not talking about this with you Liv." Nick told me shaking his head firmly. "We are not having this conversation."

"It's okay, you know, to like a girl in that way." I told him gently. "It's actually super healthy, most teenage boys your age are interested in falling in love and having a relationship. This is normal."

"I told you we're not discussing it!" Nick shouted be lining for his room and shutting as well as locking the door so no one could get in.


	45. Fresh New Start

**Sorry this update took so long! I have been swamped with school work. I hope you like it. I might do a Halloween chapter with Nick and Mia's first Halloween. If I don't, Happy Halloween! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 45) 

(Nick's POV)

I couldn't believe it, not only did Mia survive the dance and had a good time I was getting to go back to school and Maxine was coming with me. I adjusted my tie, the only down side of this situation is that I had to join a club as well as deal with convincing Mia to testify. I combed my hair with my fingers as I tried to mentally prepare for myself for anything that was going to be said about me, Mia or even Maxine.

"Nick! Let's go!" Liv called from near the door, she was taking Mia and I to school early today because she had to get to work really early for some reason.

"I'm coming!" I called as I grabbed my backpack and joined Mia, Noah, and Olivia at the door.

"Finally, you were slower then slow. If you make me late I'm going to punch you." Mia said stomping out the door.

I knew she meant it too, lately Mia has been really direct and more then a little honest about things. "It wouldn't even hurt!" I called after her as I followed her out the door.

I could feel Liv rolling her eyes from behind us as she picked up Noah and followed us out. "Kids, be nice." She scolded in a half kidding tone as she ruffled my hair.

"Liv!" I said trying to straighten my hair back out, even though I did use my fingers to comb it just five minutest ago. "I worked hard on that!"

Liv looked at me with an amused expression, she could see right through me. "I'm sure you did Nick, now let's get you two to school and Noah to Pre-School." She said gently pushing Noah along.

I fell into step with Mia who was just a little bit in front of Noah and Liv, she was reciting the cars she knew and looking at them. I shook my head in amazement, my sister was terrifyingly intelligent. I couldn't even try to memorize all of those cars even if I tried but it just came to Mia so naturally.

"There's a blue one." I pointed out a blue SUV trying to somehow interact with her but lately it seems like there was a barrier between us.

There had always been a barrier between Mia and the world but never between Mia and I. I was the only one who understood her but now there were a lot of people who wanted to understand her and she seemed to be putting me on the side with all of them. I knew I hadn't been spending as much time with her as I had in the past since I was spending it with Maxine.

I never had a friend before so how I was supposed to know how to budget my time so Mia and I could still be really close and I could still grow my friendship with Maxine? There's not exactly an instruction booklet on how to keep your autistic sister talking to you.

"The blue SUV is a 2015 Honda CR-V, I read about it during computer time." Mia said with a smile.

Another thing that impressed me was that my sister was learning how to read but very quickly. She knew the alphabet because I taught her that and how to spell her name because I also taught her that but everything else her teacher taught her. Her teacher really knew how to get through to her yet I didn't even know her name.

"You know I'm really proud of you, right Mia?" I asked her as she was reciting the car names.

Mia glanced over at me her green eyes flickering and looking up at my face. "Yes, I know that." She said nodding her head as she looked up at the sky. "When you think I'm asleep you always come and whisper in my ear how proud you are of me and how smart I am and how I'm going to do great things."

I blushed in embarrassment, I honestly thought she was asleep! Now I knew I had to test her with like a small touch to the forehead to see if she really was asleep. "Right," I said scratching behind my ear. "But I'm also proud of you because you are going to make something of yourself. You're not going to be like me, a f-crap up for the rest of your life."

I was really trying to watch what I say because Liv would not be a happy camper if Noah went around Nursery School saying the things I said and the last thing I needed was Mia repeating something I said in class.

"You'll make something of yourself Nick," Mia said her green eyes glancing into my eyes so I knew she was serious. "You're a good person."

Before I could reply I realized we were in front of the school and Maxine was waiting for us in her school uniform. It was the same one Mia was wearing, the skirt, tucked in blouse, and all. I could feel the laughter spilling out of me. "Wow Max," I laughed loudly.

"Nick, be nice!" Olivia scolded me as she gave me her Mom look. She then turned to Maxine. "Maxine, you look very pretty."

"Gee….thanks." Maxine grumbled as a blush formed on her cheeks in embarrassment.

"Hi Maxine," Mia greeted her before shoving past her and reaching for the door.

I sighed as I reached for Mia's shirt. She couldn't do that, she really needed to work on those social skills. Liv told me that was apart of Mia's condition though, she didn't get common social cues. I loved Mia for exactly who she was and still is but I knew other people wouldn't accept her differences like I have because Olivia told me. And, when I said I would kick them all in the jewels, Olivia said that wasn't okay either.

"Hold on hot stuff." I said grabbing and yanking my sister back.

"What? Why did you grab my shirt?" Mia asked wrenching around to get free.

"You can't just shove past people like that. And I think you know it too, so what do you say instead of shoving people?" I asked her.

Mia rolled her eyes at me, she really did not care about the social skills lesson. "You say excuse me, now I'm going inside." She said stomping into the building.

I looked behind me and saw Olivia and Maxine both wore expressions of amusement. "What?" I asked them with a cross of my arms.

"You're a good brother Nick," was all that Maxine said before she marched inside.

I rolled my eyes and followed in after her with Olivia and Noah behind me. The secretary at the front desk gave me my new and "improved" schedule and gave Maxine hers. Luckily, Maxine and I had the exact same schedule so we could stick together.

"Nick," Olivia said as she got ready to let us open our lockers and take Noah to Nursery school. "Please, try this time like you promised. It's important for you to get an education." She said gently holding my shoulders.

I simply shook my head. "Mia's the smart one remember? I'm the one who just skates by." I said honestly as I looked over at Maxine who was trying to get into her locker.

"Well not anymore, you're going to make good grades. You're making A's and B's in the online program and now you just have to transfer it here." Olivia said gently pressing a kiss to my forehead. "And also, remember to join a club okay? It will look good on college applications if you're involved in some type of activity."

"Who says I even want to go to college? And where would I even find the money to pay for it?" I laughed shaking my head.

Olivia just smiled sadly as she let me go and reached for Noah's hand. She looked from me to Maxine. "Take care of him Maxine, and if you can, try to keep the both of you out of trouble."

"I'll try Olivia but with this one," Maxine nudged my shoulder with a grin. "It's not always easy."

"Oh lord, I know." Olivia laughed as she picked Noah up.

"I'm right here!" I complained with a shake of my head. "I have ears!"

"Just be good Nick, and whatever you do; no food fights, no fist fights, no word fights, no fights with your teachers, no skipping class, and most of all don't get involved in something you can't handle." Olivia told me in a stern yet caring tone.

"I know the rules." I said with a small roll of my eyes. "Bye Liv." I said giving her a wave.

Olivia smiled softly and began to walk away with Noah leaving Maxine and I to start over. I felt almost like my slate was wiped clean but life had never been that kind. There was always some kind of stain forming but I had to wonder where it was going to come from this time.


	46. A One Way Ticket To Hell

**Hey lolamay101 here! Sorry it took me so long to update, life is crazy. Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter. This chapter sets up for a good convo with Liv and Nick and some more insight on Nick and Mia's past! I hope you guys enjoy! Also, a song that describes Nick is:** ** _Tell Me Why by Three Days Grace and Real You by Three Days Grace._** **I like a lot of bands but these songs do a good job at giving some insight into him. Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 46)

(Nick's POV)

My first day had been going really good so far, I just got a few stares and so did Maxine but I kept my head down. I didn't talk in class, I just did my work as best I could and tried to blend in as best as possible. I couldn't get in trouble, Liv would be so angry. I knew she would never hurt me but there's always a limit on how much a person can take. I couldn't disrupt her life anymore or she might give me away. I didn't want to be separated from Mia and I knew if Liv couldn't handle us anymore most likely Mia and I would be separated in a boys and girls home. Now that we knew about Mia's condition it had to be notated and that could just make everything even harder.

It was lunch time and cafeteria was filled, the whole school had lunch at once and so everywhere was full. I stood with my tray trying to locate Maxine or Mia, I found Mia sitting alone. I sighed shaking my head, she had been lying to me. She had been sitting alone at lunch. For someone so truthful Mia sure did know how to lie. I guess she didn't want me to worry or for Liv to worry. She wanted to be independent even though.

I went over to her and put my tray down next to her, she didn't notice. Mia was engrossed in a car magazine, she also had her favorite toy car from the station with her. I glanced over at her, she had put on some weight which was good but she was still a little thin. Her hair was in her face and her green eyes were moving fast across the page. I looked at the little scars on her hands, I knew how she got each one of them. She was so grown up but at the same time she was still a little girl.

I reached out and smoothed her hair that was sticking up. She didn't greet me, she just batted my hand away after she got fed up with the sensation of me trying to fix her hair. Mia never came out of her world anymore, I used to be in Mia's world but now I was on the other side of the barrier. Even though I was the only true family she had, she even shut me out. I knew this was my fault but it didn't hurt any less so I knew I had to fix this. I had to make all of this better.

"Hey," I finally said to her, I saw she didn't have a lunch and frowned. I was so busy making sure her hair was in the right place I didn't even notice she didn't have anything to eat. "Where's your food kid? You need to eat to get strong."

Mia didn't even look at me she just picked up the car and began to play with it. This time I knew it wasn't just the autism, she was really ignoring me. I sighed taking the car away and gently took her face in my hands like I would do when she was six to get her to even engage with me. "Mia, I'm talking to you. Where's your lunch."

"I don't have one," Mia replied trying to take her car back but I held it out of her reach.

"I can see that." I said patiently as I kept eye contact with her while she studied my lips because eye contact could over stimulate her. "But why don't you have one? Liv gave you a lunch bag with food in it. I know because I helped pack it. So, where is it?"

Mia shifted her eyes back to her book but couldn't see it all the way because I held her face. "Come on M, I'm not going to be mad about whatever it is. You know that, I just need to make sure you eat enough. It's important for your health." I sighed trying to keep her attention. "Did someone take it?"

Her eyes immediately snapped back to my face and I knew I hit the jackpot. "No," Mia tried to deny it but I could see straight through her and she knew it. "Maybe…."

"Who?" I said making my face like stone, I had to get her lunch back. I could hear angel Liv on my shoulder telling me to just go tell her teacher but I was her brother! This was my job.

Mia just shook her head. She didn't want to tell me but she needed to. It was the only way I could help her.

"Who Mia? You have to tell me if you don't want me to figure it out my way." I demanded her, she knew my way would be me beating everyone up.

Mia sighed glancing up and looking me in the eyes. "The three older girls in your grade, their blonde and their names are Kady, Krystal, and Kaylee. Their boyfriends steal my lunch when they're not at soccer practice. They say 'freaks like you shouldn't get to eat lunches like these' and then leave me alone when I give it to them."

I could feel the rage came over me fast and furious. Of course, someone just had to mess with Mia. I gave Mia her car back and released her to look at her book before standing up and propelling myself toward the very table that had the three blondes. I could hear Mia's protests in the background but I ignored them.

I approached the table with a look of stone on my face, there were about ten people all crowded around it. It was the popular clique of the time with the top cheerleaders with their boyfriends. Why would they want to waste time on a girl like Mia? Maybe because she was the only one anyone allowed to be pushed around but that was about to change.

One of the blondes, Krystal, who was who I would call the Queen Bitch type. Her eyes flickered up to my face and smirked in challenge tapping one of the blondes next to her and whispered into her ear. I cleared my throat gently and the table ignored me. I waved my hand but yet I was still ignored, it was like I was invisible. I could feel the anger pulse through my body but I swallowed it down. I had to handle this with at least trying not to get into a fight. For Liv and Mia.

"Hey!" I finally said loud enough to get all of their attention.

"Who's this kid?" One of the football players, Trevor a brown-haired idiot, asked. He had his hands around Krystal.

"He's the freak's brother." Krystal said just loud enough for Trevor and for me to hear.

I mentally took a breath this was going to be harder than I thought to contain my anger. "Look," I said patiently. "I'm sure you're all great and what not but you're really being a bunch of jackasses by stealing that girl's lunch." I said gesturing over to Mia who was playing with her car. She was back in Mia world, away from everything else. "So please just leave her and her lunch alone."

Krystal laughed standing up and nudging Trevor who sighed and stood up as well. "She's a freak and frankly so are you. You can't come in and expect everyone to like and be nice to you. That's not how high school works." She said looking at her nails. "And besides, you're not even all that special. I don't care what they say."

"I may not be special." I said shrugging my shoulders not really caring about what she thought. "But I do deserve some respect and so does Mia. So, stop taking her lunch or I'll make you stop." I said putting some steel in my voice.

That's when Trevor took a step towards me. "Did you just threaten my girlfriend?" He asked his eyebrows raising.

"No," I said patiently even though I really did. "All I want you guys to do is leave her alone. Do you know what it's like for her? Do you know what it's like to live in a world that's too loud and too confusing?" I asked them, crossing my arms. "Until you do you have no right to call her a freak. Her name is Mia."

"Look buddy," Krystal said her eyes narrowing as they stared me down. "As soon as your sister stops being a retard we'll leave her alone."

That's when I lost it. I hate that word, it was a terrible word. I didn't care she was a girl, I just swung hitting her in the nose. She stumbled back gasping.

"Krystal!" Trevor called out, he made sure she was okay before turning to me. "You're going to pay for that."

I knew I was screwed so I took off running, I had to put as much distance between me and Trevor because I knew Trevor wasn't going to be alone. I was fast and scrappy, I could take on one opponent at a time not four or five. I made it out into the court yard and thought I was in the clear, that was before I was tackled to the ground.

I felt Trevor hit me full force, my face painfully scraped the pavement. It was like rough sandpaper against my skin. Trevor flipped me onto my back and one of his buddies pinned my arms above my head as Trevor straddled my chest. I could feel the panic rise in me at being corned like I was.

"You should really not have done that." Trevor said socking me in the face.

I just sat there and took it wincing every time a hard hit happened as the beating of my body continued, I was so used to receiving beatings that I knew how to turn things off. I knew how to imagine I wasn't there, that I was somewhere better and it made everything a little easier.

They finally finished and left me there lying in pain. I forced myself to sit up and I saw Mia and Maxine running towards me. "Sweet Jesus." Maxine gasped seeing how beat up I was. "They beat you to pulp. Is anything broken?"

"They don't have the brains to break my bones." I groaned sitting up and feeling the back of my head which was bleeding. "I'm fine, it's just a few bruises."

I finished up the school day and went straight to the apartment with Mia after we said goodbye to Maxine at the subway station. Liv told us today she would take off early to see how my first day back went. I walked through the door behind Mia and Liv was with Noah waiting for us. I just wanted to go to my room and collapse.

Liv's face fell when it came to me. "What happened?" She asked gently grabbing my shoulders.

"Nothing," I said marching into my room and shutting the door. I didn't feel like talking about it.


	47. Something Great

**Hey, lolamay101 here! Sorry it took me so long to update, school has been crazy. Stay tuned for the next chapter, we're going to get a Nick flashback! I hope you like it! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 47)

(Olivia's POV)

Nick refused to come out at dinner, he wouldn't even open the door. He just said he wasn't hungry and I left it. After I got Mia and Noah set up in front of the TV with Disney Pixar Cars (that was the compromise) on the screen and glasses of water near them. Nick needed me and I needed to be there for him.

I stopped in front of the closed, bland, white door and gently knocked on it. I heard a grunt from the other side and then in a clear voice; "Go away." Nick's voice wasn't aggressive or rude it just sounded tired. Nick has had a rough time in school.

"Come on Nick, let's talk about it." I coaxed gently as I reached up above his door and found the key I kept. He had locked it earlier to keep me out. "You missed dinner and you're missing our millionth showing of Cars. I know you don't want to miss the movie."

I was almost positive Nick didn't even like that movie but he was willing to sit through anything just to see Mia happy. Mia could literally quote that movie and did under her breath through the whole thing and that just made Nick, happy. To him, that was supposed to be the definition of normal.

"I don't care." Nick grumbled through the door.

I sighed, looked like we were doing things the hard way. "I'm coming in if you like it or not." I said as I reached to put the key into the lock.

"Good luck." Nick snorted, I could almost see him rolling his eyes through the door. "The door is locked."

I opened it up and Nick stood from his bed, he was shirtless and had a pocket knife in his hand. Where the hell did he get that? I watched as he stood up in surprise and slammed the pocket knife on the night stand beside his bed.

Nick's room wasn't anything fancy, he didn't want to add any of his own touches to it. It was messy with clothes on the floor but besides that he had a simple dark bed spread over a twin sized bed with a white dresser across the room near the door. There was a small closet on the other end of the room with a window between the bed and the closet. He had some of his stuff strewn around on the night stand including the pocket knife.

"What do you want, Liv?" Nick asked harshly as he threw on a black and red striped sweatshirt.

I watched him through confused eyes, he hadn't been this hostile to me in a while. What changed? "I don't want anything but to see if you were okay." I said gently as I sat on the edge of his bed.

"Why do you care?" Nick spat as he stalked away from me to glare out the window. "You're just going to get rid of me."

What? Where could he get an idea like that? I had done nothing to warrant him thinking I was mad at him or said anything of that sort of nature. Honestly, I thought things were going pretty damn well considering the situation. I know I had been swamped with work and I had been trying to balance my time between all three kids but I don't think I neglected him.

Instead of getting myself worked up, I took a deep breath. Nick was probably worried about my reaction to the incident at school today. I had already chatted with Maxine over the phone about it and it came out Nick was defending Mia. I didn't like it got physical or that he punched a girl, but at least it didn't get brought to the principal.

"Nick," I said gently patting the space beside me for him to sit but he just glared at me. "I could never, ever get rid of you, okay? You're stuck with me forever." I laughed gently.

Nick's face didn't change, he almost seemed like a lion in a cage. "That's what they all said." Nicks said softly as if to himself. "They were liars"

"Who?" I asked, getting up and standing in front of his bruised and beaten body. "Who said that to you Nick?"

"The foster homes, my captors when they wanted to put the fear of God in me, and others said it." Nick said a flash pain came over him as if he was remembering a terrible memory.

I gently and slowly so he wouldn't freak out, pulled him into a hug. I held him close to me and I could feel his whole body tense, but as I held him for a few seconds he slowly began to relax and I felt him hug me back. His long arms looped around my back awkwardly. It wasn't like his hugs with Mia which were short and full of brotherly passion for his sister, he wasn't sure what to make of this one.

"Well," I said softly, slowly pulling back from him. "I swear, you're not going anywhere and do you know why?"

Nick frowned, his golden eyes filled with confusion and he shook his head. "No, I don't know what you could say to make those words perfectly true."

"I have been working on a special project for you and Mia," I said looking into his eyes. I was worried and excited to hear what he had to say all at the same time. "I have been working on officially adopting you into my house. Since you and Mia are such a vital part of Noah's and my life I decided it was about time to make all of this official. What do you think?"

Nick stood still blinking at me for a minute as if he was trying to come up with the right thing to say it. "Mia and I would be really happy to be officially adopted into your family, but having us here comes at a cost. A really big one, Mia's autistic and I'm…damaged."

I hated that he thought that he was damaged, because he wasn't. He had been through so much pain in his sixteen years but he was not damaged. He was one of the strongest people I knew.

"Nick, everyone has baggage. I have baggage, Tucker has baggage, even Noah at his young age has baggage. Everyone is carrying something with them, but some people's load is heavier than others. You happen to be one of those people, but that doesn't mean you don't deserve to be happy." I said taking both of his hands into mine. "You're so young Nick, you have so much to offer and have a very bright future ahead of you. I want you and Mia in this family because you guys fit perfectly."

Nick's face slowly formed into a small smile as if he could accept some of what I said. "I hope you're right Liv, about me having a bright future. I'm not going to be the failure everyone has told me I'm going to turn out to be."

I gently touched his bruised cheek in a soothing way. "I know you're not, you're going to do something great."


	48. Mi Amiga Habla Demasiado

(Chapter 48)

(Nick's POV)

 _I was in a room that had been a broom closet at one point. The room was dark and isolated with a hard floor underneath my feet and the wall to my back. I was really young, around ten or eleven I don't know how many days had passed since I had been in this room. This room with only four walls, no light, no Mia, and little food and water. It was enough to make anyone go crazy._

 _I was thrown into the room for acting up and biting one of the clients that had came in and paid to spend time with me. By spend time with me I meant have sex which I wasn't about to let happen. I bit the man who wanted to violate me so hard I drew blood so my keepers thought a fitting punishment was throwing me in a room with no light and have nothing to do but worry about Mia._

 _The door suddenly slammed opening flooding the room with light, my head shot up and my eyes squinted with discomfort at the light. I heard the slapping of skin and the screams of a young girl, those screams were familiar and would always haunt my nightmares. One of our keepers, a brute of a man, brought in a screaming and thrashing girl._

 _He looked down at me, at my small pathetic form and basically threw her at me. "Make it stop, the boss needs her to shut up and he's tried everything. You're the last resort, if you can't shut her up I'll put a bullet in her head."_

 _I could feel a cold fear rush over me as I drew a small girl who looked so much like me, who was only six or seven years old, and held her in my arms. At the time, I knew something was off about Mia. She was different than the other kids while they had emotions but hers were very different, sometimes nonexistent. She also had a tendency to not look at me or reply when I called her name. I didn't have a name for what Mia had but I did know she was different._

 _I held Mia in my arms making her so she immobile like I would have to do many times after now. I hummed a quiet song that I had heard on the radio once and tried to block out Mia's screams and the keeper's annoyed sighs._

 _"_ _You're okay, I'm here." I whispered in her ear after a couple minutest of humming. I wanted to soothe her and keep her safe because if I didn't they would shoot her surely._

 _Mia's screams soon subsided and she sniffled softly. "There, all better." I said kissing the crown of her head._

 _The keeper approached us but my young eyes narrowed tiredly. "Do you really want to have her stop screaming again? If you remove her from me, she will surely start up."_

 _The keeper simply snorted and slammed the door._

"Nick!" A girl's voice pierced through my sleep making me jerk up in my seat.

I groaned looking down at the drool that had collected on the table and I shook my head getting my wits about me. How could I be so stupid? After what happened yesterday I could have be in a lot of trouble if those jerks had been in my English class.

I looked over at the voice that woke me up, it was a girl at least a year younger than me. She had light blonde hair and pale blue eyes that looked into mine with amusement. She had freckles on her cheeks and a youthful glow to her.

Instead of saying hello or trading formalities I just cut to the chase. "Who are you?" I asked her as I rubbed my eyes and I began to pack up my books since I was late to lunch and I couldn't leave Mia to just sit in there by herself.

"My name's Sam, I'm Mia's Circle of Friends buddy and-"

"Wait," I said shaking my head hearing my sister's name, and when my sister is involved there was always something. "You're Mia's what?"

"I'm Mia's Circle of Friends' buddy, it means I was assigned to hang out with Mia one-on-one and be her friend." She said brightly like I would be happy about the fact that the school was telling people they had to be friends with my sister.

I snorted getting up and putting on my backpack. "Well that's just wonderful, the school's forcing someone to be Mia's friend." I laughed cruelly, I could care less about this girl's feelings at this point. "Mia doesn't need someone to be 'assigned' to be her friend. She can make her own."

I knew that was a stretch at this point with how Mia is, but I wasn't about to let anyone go around and say they are being forced to be Mia's friend. Mia has me and she has Maxine who I hoped was watching her in the cafeteria to make sure no one bugged her. I had asked Maxine to do that just in case I didn't show up in time.

This Sam girl frowned at me and shook her head. "That's not what this is at all! This is a part of a club students join to get to know kids who do not mix with the general student body. I just got paired up with Mia because I volunteered to work with her."

My brow furrowed, so she volunteered for this? Fine, but that didn't excuse the way she talked about Mia as if she was some project. Mia was a person not a project. "What exactly do you mean by 'work' with her? She's not a project, she's a person."

"Oh!" Sam said enthusiastically as if she was waiting for me to ask her this question. "Of course, she's a person! Her teacher told us one of her goals was to work on socialization and making friends. I'm apart of helping her reach the goal and I've heard about Mia and how bright she is."

"Right," I said shaking her head not believing this girl. "So why are you talking to me about this?"

Sam's face got even brighter if that was even possible. "Her teacher told me you really get through to Mia and she talks about you nonstop so she was hoping you could introduce us? I got a pass for you to miss your fifth period." She said in a sing song voice.

I almost laughed but forced myself to have a straight face. "I guess so. I've never visited her in her class during school before so it might throw her off."

The bell ran signaling the end of lunch and I sighed, it was time for Mia to meet her new friend. "I guess now is a good time?"

Sam nodded her head and flounced out leaving me to follow after her. I'm not sure how much Mia will be engaged with this girl. I was looking forward to Mia's spew into everything she didn't like about her.

I opened the door to Mia's classroom where she and a few other students with autism or something similar learned. She was sitting at a desk with her red car, she pushed it around on her desk.

I went over to her while Sam talked to her teacher. "Hey M," I greeted her, she glanced up at me before looking back down at me. "I want you to meet someone." I said as Sam came over and stood by me. "This is Sam, she wants to be friends with you."

"Hi Mia! It's so nice to meet you!" Sam squealed and Mia looked up at her with narrowed eyes.

I smirked as I waited for Mia to start going off like she always did. I was not disappointed. "You're loud and your voice is annoying. You have weird eyes and you smell weird." She commented. She wasn't trying to be mean, she was just being Mia.

"Wow, tell us how you really feel Mia." I snickered shaking my head.

"I just did." My sister frowned at me in confusion.

If her comments hurt Sam, she didn't show it. I had to have some grudging respect for the girl, it's not easy to get through a Mia insult spew. She can be really mean without realizing it of course, but she can be.

Sam simply sat down on the other side of her and began chatting away with her. I was going to have to tell Liv about this, she wouldn't believe it.


	49. Dating

**Hello people! Lolamay101 here, sorry it has been so long since I have updated. Life has been crazy for me and I have finally been able to push out a chapter. I had a terrible case of writers block. Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 49)

(Nick's POV)

School had been difficult and Olivia had been gone more and more. She had a lot of stress at work, and so did Barba so Mia didn't get to go to her favorite office. It made her testy. The only thing that made things easier for her was Mia's new "friend" Sam. She put up with Mia's crap and wasn't afraid to talk to her like she was a person. Mia seemed to be getting somewhere socially, I suppose.

I told Lucy to go home and I could handle putting Mia and Noah to bed. I had finally gotten Noah to lay down and had read both of them a bed time story.

To say they drained me would be an understatement. Mia and Noah were hard to put to bed. Especially when Noah likes try to climb on top of the fridge, I'm choosing not to tell Liv or Lucy about that.

I quietly closed the door to Noah's room and the other door to Mia's. I ran a hand through my hair as I walked into the kitchen where Olivia was standing. She was alone, and there were tears in her eyes. She didn't notice I was there, but I was worried. I've never seen Liv really cry before.

"Olivia?" I asked softly, I wanted her to tell me she was okay and mean it. "Are you okay?"

She looked up at me, she sighed with a smile seeing me. "Hey Nick, I'm fine my love." Olivia wiped the tears from her eyes.

"You don't look fine." I said coming closer to her. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing Nick, just a long day at work." She said with the same small smile. It seemed like Lin's defenses.

"Did someone hurt you? Do I need to punch someone?" I asked her in hopes of hearing her laugh.

"No and no," Olivia said her small smile widening a little before fading. "There will be a time in your life, Nick, when you need to decide what's more important to you whether it be work or family or anything else. And the choice won't be easy."

I frowned slightly, what was she talking about? "I'm not sure I know what you're talking about." I said leaning against the counter.

"You know how I've been doing my job for a long time?" Olivia asked me as she walked over to the counter near me and grabbing a bottle of red wine.

I nodded my head. "You've been working with sex crimes longer than anyone else on the squad." I commented watching as she poured herself some wine.

"Way to make me feel old!" Olivia teased me, before nodding her head. "But yes, I have. And I love my job, I really do, but at times I wonder what opportunities I have missed because of it."

I smiled softly, Liv was a hero. She couldn't just turn it off. "You're a hero, Liv. You can't just turn those instincts off. So you probably have."

Olivia shook her head. "I forget how mature you are sometimes."

"Probably because I'm always doing stupid shit," I chuckled but quickly countered with "stuff" when she shot me a look.

"Are Mia and Noah asleep?" She asked me.

I nodded my head. "I don't know how you or Lucy get them to sleep. I can handle Mia by herself but put them together, they're double trouble. I read the same car story and Mia went to her room halfway through and then Noah demanded another story. I got them to sleep though, at least I hope they are asleep."

Olivia laughed lightly at my words. I nearly sighed with relief, that was more of who I remembered. "Those two can be difficult. Thank you for helping Lucy."

"It's not a problem, she has a tough job taking care of Noah. I remember when Mia was a toddler." I said shaking my head, it felt like it was just yesterday. "She was hard to manage especially with the autism and all the other stuff we had happening. No one understood her, but me. It has always been me." I sighed dejectedly. "Sometimes I think I failed her."

"Nick," Olivia said gently touching my shoulders. You didn't fail Mia, you were and still are a kid Nick. None of this is your fault. It's the people who hurt you fault." She said gently in the voice she always used to soothe Mia. "It's also the system's fault. The foster care system failed you and I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that those things happened to you but now you can have a fresh start now and you're doing good. Mia's doing good."

I agreed with her, we were doing good. Mia was actually succeeding in school, I had a friend even though she went through half of the same shit I went through, and I hadn't died or killed anybody yet.

"It won't last though," I said looking into her brown eyes with my green ones. "It never lasts Olivia and that's the problem! Everything I touch, everything with life, it dies. I ruin everything either by the people who are after me or by my own stupidity."

"Nick, if you talk and think like that it's never going to." Olivia said shaking her head as she let me go to get a sip of her wine. "That's the way these things work. You have to think positively to get what you want."

I rolled my eyes inwardly, sometimes Liv spewed out a bunch of mumbo jumbo. I was thinking positively, I was positively sure that good things never last. I have tried the whole think positive thing for a good while and it didn't work. I honestly think it's all a bunch of bullshit.

I think in terms of reality and facts that have actually been proven through my life time. I wouldn't have survived the ring otherwise. When I first went into the ring, I learned the rules very fast. If I thought positively there I would have died, and death at that point wasn't an option because I had a little sister to protect. Thinking about what Liv said earlier, there was a time in my life where I had to decide what was more important. I had to decide between Mia and my own comfort and wellbeing. If I was given the choice again, I would choose Mia every damn time.

"Look, Liv, positivity is your thing. I do positive only when I think it's actually going to happen." I said with a simple shrug of my shoulders.

Olivia sighed but nodded her in begrudging acceptance. She knew she couldn't change me no matter how hard she tried. "I'll make a positive man out of you one day, Nick."

"Good luck," I snorted with a shake of my head. Anyone who could make a positive man out of me should win the fucking Noble Peace Prize.

I wanted to talk to her about one more thing before I went to bed but I wasn't sure how to approach the subject without seeming insane. I sighed running a hand through my hair, I'll just go out and say it. "Liv," I said, she turned to me with her wine glass in hand. "Do you think I could have a normal relationship? Like with a girl?"

Olivia put her glass down and went over to the couch, I followed after her knowing she probably needed time to sit from work. She has a hard job of being Lieutenant Benson. "Of course, you can Nick. It's not going to be easy at first but knowing you, you will find a way to make it so."

Alright, that was good. We got that part of the conversation out of the way. "So, if I invited a girl on a date it would be a good and normal thing?" I asked her, biting my lip.

"Nick, it wouldn't be normal if you didn't want to date at your age. A typical boy your age is very interested in dating." Olivia chuckled and then clued in to what I had been skirting around all night. "You've asked someone on a date haven't you?"

I shook my head quickly, a blush spreading over my cheek. "No!" I spat out as fast as I could, which was true. I hadn't asked anybody out. "Not yet, anyway."

"And who is the girl who wants to go out with my son?" She said ruffling my hair playfully.

I batted her hand away in annoyance. "It's no one, I'm going to bed." I said getting up and before she could catch me, I was in my room.

(Olivia's POV)

I was over joyed, Nick wanted to go on a date. I had a smile on my face when I walked into the squad room the next day. I greeted Carisi and the rest of the squad before going into my office where Barba was waiting.

"You'll never believe what Nick said last night." I told him while I set my stuff down. "He wants to go on a date."

Barba smiled, a real Barba smile which was his way of telling me he was happy for me. "Who's the unlucky girl who's going to get stuck with him."

I rolled my eyes as I sat down in my chair. "I'll bet money it's Maxine but I don't know."

"Whoever it is, God help us all." Barba snorted in reply before pulling a few papers of his coat pocket.


End file.
